Correspondence from E.E. Cummings [Concrete Poetry]

[Cambridge, MA]: np, ca. 1950s. Typewritten poem with handwritten annotations on Silver Lake stationary, with original envelope. Sheet 5 ½ x 7 in., envelope 6 ½ x 3 ¾ in. Sheet creased from folding with tears at edge of crease, bumps to envelope; overall, very good. Item #6049

Typewritten manuscript by E.E. Cummings, prefaced “this is a specimen of the work.” A repeating sequence followed by a string of letters and numbers, this is the only known work by E.E. Cummings using non-representational language.

The page also includes instructions to enclose a red and black ribbon in the envelope with the poem, which is absent. Presumably written in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Cummings was teaching at Harvard, with instructions to be sent to his summer home Joy Farm in Silver Lake, New Hampshire.

Cummings used capital letters irregularly in his verse, though not infrequently. Though his name is often stylized in lower case type, Cummings signed his name in upper case as the reader can see with this example. An amusing request for a new letter on the typewriter from an author whose typing and stylization has been shrouded in mythology.

A rare work by E.E. Cummings, suggesting a heretofore unexamined influence by concrete and visual poetry.

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