1985 John Updike’s Advance Copy of Tracy Kidder’s House, with Editor Richard Todd’s Signed Letter Inviting Updike to Comment and the Publisher’s Portrait of Kidder
502On offer is John Updike’s advance uncorrected proof of Tracy Kidder’s House, accompanied by the original letter in which Kidder’s longtime editor, Richard “Dick” Todd, invited Updike to read it before publication. Updike signed his name in blue ink across the title on the front wrapper. Todd signed his letter simply “Dick.” Preserved with both is Houghton Mifflin’s publicity portrait of Kidder, issued for the book’s publication in October 1985.
Writing on May 24, 1985, Todd opens by reminding Updike that he and Kidder had met at the American Book Awards a couple of years earlier, an encounter Todd describes as “very memorably for him.” That small aside gives the letter much of its character. Kidder had already won a Pulitzer Prize for The Soul of a New Machine, yet his editor wanted Updike to know how much their meeting had meant to him.
In House, Kidder follows the construction of a Massachusetts home through the eyes of its owners, architect and carpenters. Todd believed the book had something to say about the possibilities of literary nonfiction itself, and he wanted Updike’s judgment as a critic. “This seems to me as good as anything that is being done these days in reportage,” he writes, before inviting Updike to write someday about the form. Only in his closing lines does Todd broach the more immediate favour, leaving the request for an endorsement delicately unfinished: “In any case, I hope you like the book. And if you are moved to comment on it, needless to say....”
Todd and Kidder would later draw on their long editorial partnership to write Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction. This letter catches that partnership at work in 1985, with Todd making the case for a new book in his own words to a reader whose opinion mattered to them both. For collectors of American literary journalism and publishing history, the letter and proof are especially valuable together. One preserves Todd’s private assessment of House before the reviews appeared. The other bears the ownership signature of the man he chose to receive it.
The proof retains its illustrated wrappers and Houghton Mifflin’s advance publication notice, which specifies seven illustrations. Todd’s one-page typed letter is on Houghton Mifflin Company Trade Division letterhead and is addressed to Updike by name. The accompanying black-and-white portrait shows Kidder in profile, wearing a hat and dark glasses. The printed caption identifies House, names Houghton Mifflin as publisher and credits photographer Michael Mathers.
Biographical Notes
Tracy Kidder was the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Soul of a New Machine. His other books include Among Schoolchildren and Mountains Beyond Mountains. Richard Todd was Kidder’s longtime editor and eventual coauthor. John Updike was an American novelist, short-story writer and critic for The New Yorker. His novels Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit at Rest each won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Condition
The proof shows light wear at the wrapper edges and corners, with a few small spots along the left edge of the front cover. Updike’s blue-ink signature is bold and clear. Todd’s letter has a horizontal mailing fold and light creasing, with the typescript and signature readily legible. The publicity portrait shows slight edge wear and retains its full printed caption and photographer’s credit.
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