AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) to Mary Mapes Dodge

The Holt Convent Station, 28 September 1898. Letter. Expected creases from mailing. About Fine. A four-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED in full with to author Mary Mapes Dodge on one 9" x 7" sheet of paper folded to make four pages. Stockton begins with a lengthy question about why he hasn't heard from her: "I mean why should I be steeped in this ignorance? I don't believe that a summer has passed since the early seventies, or late sixties without my knowing something about you." He mentions his and his wife's aborted plans to go to Europe due to the [Spanish-American] war. "Mrs. Stockton and I have both been well, and although we have heard a good deal (truncated) about a man named Alger [Secretary of War Russell Alexander Alger] we have also heard a good deal about two others, named Dewey [Admiral of the Navy George Dewey, the only person in United States history to have attained the rank] and Schley [Commodore Winfield Scott Schley] and we rest content." Stockton concludes by hoping to hear from Dodge, "even if written by your secretary." Frank R. Stockton was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century, including the well-known "The Lady, or the Tiger?". Mary Mapes Dodge was the recognized leader in juvenile literature for almost a third of the nineteenth century, best known as the author of HANS BRINKER, OR THE SILVER SKATES and as the longtime editor of ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE. Stockton was assistant editor at the magazine from 1873 to 1881, working with Mary Mapes Dodge. A superb association connecting two popular 19th century American writers for children. (Inventory #: 020644)