[Rarebooks] FS: Remarkable Letter by Philosopher/Poet George Santayana

[Charles Agvent]

 From our latest Internet Catalogue which contains a truly amazing array 
of TWENTIETH CENTURY LITERARY MANUSCRIPTS, LETTERS, AND PHOTOGRAPHS, a 
total of 90 items, many quite scarce and remarkable as well as revealing 
of the creative process and personal lives of the subjects.  It includes 
a number of archives, some rather substantial, including Sherwood 
Anderson, W. H. Auden (SOLD), Robert Lowell, Norman Mailer (SOLD), John 
Masefield (SOLD), John O'Hara, Clifford Odets, Maxwell Perkins, E. H. 
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SANTAYANA, George.   AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED  (ALS).   Rome:  17 June
1951.  AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED as "G. Santayana" by this  Spanish-born
American  poet and philosopher who is thought to be the originator  of
the  oft-used expression: "Those who forget the past are condemned  to
repeat  it."  That  sentence  is  hinted at  in  this  letter  to  Mr.
Robertson.  In full: "It is a pleasure, and not a common one, to  hear
a  word of appreciation from the midst of the active and public world,
not  tinged  by any literary or academic prejudice; and I am happy  to
know  that  you  have  found  refreshment  in  the  atmosphere  of  my
writings.  The present, without long perspectives into the past or the
future,  presses very hard on our generation: more on yours, I  should
say,  than  on  mine, because in the 1890's, when I reached  my  moral
majority,  there  was still at least in Europe, a somewhat  harmonious
civilization, which  is impossible today.  We are being  punished  for
the  sins of  our  fathers."  A remarkable  letter  written  near  the
conclusion of his long and productive life.  Vertical fold down center
from mailing, still Fine.                                     $1500.00

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