University of Virginia Library

Some New Stephen Crane Items
by
George W. Hallam

Several items that should be of particular interest to students and admirers of Stephen Crane's work have recently turned up in Jacksonville, Florida. In Cora Crane's personal copy of Wounds in the Rain, preserved with the library from Brede Place which she ultimately transferred to her sporting-house in Jacksonville, now comes to light an acknowledgment letter from Moreton Frewen to Cora, a similar letter from Rudyard Kipling, and an explanatory note, in Crane's hand, about the title page of the book itself.[1]

Cora's copy of Wounds in the Rain, from the English edition by Methuen in September, 1900, is in good condition. Inscribed on the inside

of the front cover and partially obscured by a crayon mark are these words in Cora's hand: "This book belongs to / Mrs. Stephen Crane / 6 Milborne Grove / The Boltons / South Kinsington [sic]." The address represents the last in a series of London residences Cora occupied before returning to America in April, 1901.

In addition to the three communications described below, Cora's copy of the book contains a commercial photograph of Crane (captioned "From 'The Bookman.' Courtesy of Dodd, Mead & Co.") and a small, heavily addressed envelope which originally contained the Kipling letter. The envelope bears four postmarks (September 14, 15, 17, 18) and four addresses, each of which has been cancelled out: "Mrs. Crane / c/o Methuen Co. / 36 Essex St / Strand / London W.C."; "Mr. Alfred Plant, Esq. / 18 Bedford Row / Greys Inn"; "47 Gower St. W.C."; "47 Gower Street."[2] Cora had by this time moved into the house at 6 Milborne Grove in South Kensington, and the letter somehow reached her there.

Crane had projected the eleven Cuban war stories and sketches that make up Wounds in the Rain in the latter part of 1898, while he was in the United States conferring with his publisher, Frederick A. Stokes. He resumed work on them at Brede Place in February, 1899, and completed them sometime in August or September of the same year. Methuen and Stokes published the book in England and America simultaneously, the following September, three months after Crane's death. Cora then sent copies to several important people, including Hamlin Garland, Rudyard Kipling, and Moreton Frewen, the Cranes' landlord at Brede Place.

Crane had dedicated Wounds in the Rain to Moreton Frewen as a "small token of things well remembered by his friend," and Frewen wrote thanks to Cora from Ireland. His letter, dated September 28, 1900, from County Cork, is here given for the first time:

As Crane lay dying at Badenweiler, the pressing question arose as to who would finish The O'Ruddy, and Crane declared from his deathbed that only two people could do so: Kipling and Robert Barr. He wanted Barr to finish the book and Kipling to go over the manuscript before it went to press. But despite appeals from Cora, Barr was unwilling for the time being. Frewen, in the meantime, went ahead and sought Kipling's aid.

To Frewen's action Cora eagerly gave consent. On June 3 she asked him to see "if Kipling will do this for the book. Kipling is a friend of Robert Barr's." Continuing, she noted that "if Robert Barr and Mr. Kipling say they will finish it it ought to bring a £1000 — for the American and English serial rights alone. Mr. Crane expected £600 — for American serial rights."[4]

Kipling thought differently. On June 15, ten days after Crane's death and on the eve of Cora's departure for the United States, he replied to Frewen: "My own opinion is — and I hold it very strongly — that a man's work is personal to him, and should remain as he made it or left it. I should have been glad to have done him a kindness, but this is not a thing a man feeling as I do can undertake."[5]

Kipling's "No" of June 15 was final and The O'Ruddy, after many delays, was at last completed in July, 1903, by Robert Barr. Despite this turndown, Cora sent Kipling a copy of Wounds in the Rain when it came off the press. His acknowledgment, appearing here for the first time, is dated September, 1900, from the Elms, Rottingdean, Sussex.

In the teeth of Kipling's refusal to associate himself with The O'Ruddy, why did Cora once more pursue him with a copy of Wounds in the Rain? Perhaps Miss Gilkes, her biographer, has the right answer: "Her motive? Crane admired Kipling more than any other living writer, with the possible exception of Conrad; especially his war stories. This was a book of war tales. The shade of her beloved Stephen, lost to her, would be gratified in turn by Kipling's admiration. But undoubtedly, as in the case of Garland, she hoped he would review the book, so lending his own great name to enhancement of Crane's literary immortality."[7]

The third item in Cora's copy of Wounds in the Rain — the note in Crane's hand — is, of course, of considerably greater literary interest and

importance than the other two. The note, bearing no date, is written neatly on lined paper and reads as follows:

Whether Crane gave this directive to James Pinker, his literary agent, cannot be determined, but the note itself must be considered in the light of two letters exchanged by Pinker and Crane in early February, 1900.

Pinker had written that Dominick, London representative for Stokes, "thinks so long a title as the one you have chosen would seriously affect the sale of the volume, and he tells me that in view of the glut of books on the Cuban war which has appeared in America he thinks it unwise to proclaim in your title that your book deals with the same subject."[9] Crane replied promptly that he had spent two months trying to find an effective title for the book of war stories. He had decided on "Wounds in the Rain," which seemed to him "very effective." Dominick's views he held to be worthless; he was surprised that Methuen found occasion to agree with Dominick on any point. Crane continued: "The sub-title — the books on the Cuban War have for more than a year terrified the Stokes firm and they have not the slightest idea that they are now in possession of the only fairly decent book on the Cuban War which has yet been written — the sub-title, I say, can be dispenced [sic] with for America and become this: 'A collection of War Stories.' As for Methuen, he can adopt the same sub-title if he likes."

The upshot of this argument was that Crane's explicit wishes as set forth in the heretofore unpublished note were but partially honored after his death. The American edition of Wounds in the Rain carried as a subtitle on the title page simply "War Tales"; the English edition, the full phrase "A Collection of Stories Relating to the Spanish-American War of 1898." And the cover of the book reads exactly the way Crane did not wish it to read: "Wounds in the Rain / By Stephen Crane."

Notes