Rare Letter from the Author of A Wrinkle in Time

Signed by Madeleine L'Engle

$200

Item: 20882

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L’ENGLE, MADELEINE. (1918-2007). American author of the beloved young adult series A Wrinkle in Time. TLS. (“Medeleine”). 1p. 8vo. N.p., May 11, 1975. On her personal stationery. To “Marjorie,” editor and author MARJORIE M. BITKER (1901-1990).

“Thank you for all your kindness and your hospitality. I love seeing your beautiful house and having lunch with you and, indeed, the whole experience in Milwaukee was a delightful one for me. Thank you so much…. P.S. If I may ask one more favor, could you please forward the notes enclosed. Thank you again for everything.”

L’Engle was born in New York City but educated in various boarding schools in the United States and abroad where, although a poor student, she nurtured literary aspirations from an early age. After graduating Smith College cum laude, she returned to New York where she published several novels and buying a 200-year-old farmhouse called “Crosswicks” in Goshen, Connecticut with her husband, an actor, in 1952.

Rare Letter from the Author of A Wrinkle in Time

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Madeleine L’Engle’s book A Wrinkle in Time

However, rural Connecticut, where the couple operated a general store, offered no acting opportunities for her husband and her writing did not provide sufficient income for the family of five. So, in 1959, L’Engle and her family took a 10-week cross-country camping trip prior to moving back to New York. It was during the trip that she was inspired to write her most famous book, A Wrinkle in Time, a science fiction/fantasy novel for young adults, which explores the struggle between good and evil as well as travel through time and space. Written between 1959 and 1960, it was rejected by 26 publishers before Farrar, Straus & Giroux published it in 1962. A Wrinkle in Time went on to win a Newberry Medal and its popularity led L’Engle to create several series’ based on its characters. She continued to maintain homes in New York City and Goshen for the rest of her life.

Our letter’s recipient is the author of A Different Flame and Gold of Evening, the latter described on the jacket as “a beautiful, piercing novel of a gallant woman’s odyssey of love.” Bitker worked as a freelance editor for various New York publishers as well as a book reviewer, lecturer and Women’s Chair for Humanistic Studies at Marquette University from 1972-1973.

Normal folding and in very fine condition; uncommon.

Rare Letter from the Author of A Wrinkle in Time

Signed by Madeleine L'Engle