Thomas Kunkel - Letters from the Editor: The New Yorkers Harold Ross

If you ever have the pleasant opportunity to spend time in the archived correspondence of James Thurber, Frank Sullivan, Rebecca West, E. B. and Katharine White, and other friends and associates of Harold Wallace Ross, something will strike you right away: It was a given on their part that Ross's own letters would one day be collected and published. They said as much, often, in their notes to one another. This was not mere tribute to Ross's status as one of the great editors of a uniquely literary age. Thurber and the others simply knew in their bones that letters so artful and funny, not to mention so revealing of the inner workings of The New Yorker, by rights would be passed along to a wider audience.

If the publication took several decades longer than they expected, I hope the resulting volume would have met with their approval.

One thing is certain: This book could not have happened without the support and help of a number of peoplechief among them Tina Brown, former editor of The New Yorker, and her husband, Harry Evans, former president and publisher of Random House, who together gave it the green light several years ago. My thanks go also to The New Yorker for its permission to reproduce Ross's magazine-related letters, which are the bulk of this collection, and to Roger Angell and Allene White for permission to use material from, respectively, the papers of Katharine S. White and E. B. White.

Patricia Ross Honcoop, Ross's only child, not only helped bring this book about but has become a valued friend. So too have New Yorker staff writer Philip Hamburger and his wife, Anna, whose abiding encouragement and generosity are appreciated more than they will ever know. Thanks are also due my agent, Peter Matson, one of the last of the best; my editor at Random House, Jeanne Tift, who embraced this project with enthusiasm and understanding; and to Sono Rosenberg, whose crisp line editing saved the day on more occasions than I care to admit.

The majority of Ross's letters can be found in the New Yorker archives at the New York Public Library's Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, and they appear here with the library's permission. {New Yorker fans and Ph.D. candidates everywhere, take note: Hundreds of thousands of the magazine's manuscripts, internal memoranda, correspondence, and other documents are catalogued and open to the public there.) The library also maintains the papers of H. L. Mencken, who exchanged many wonderful letters with Ross. For their patience and unfailing good humor, I commend the library's expert staff, with special thanks going to my friend Mimi Bowling.

Other Ross letters were drawn from collections around the country So let me acknowledge the help and permissions of: Cornell University's Kroch Library, which houses the letters of E. B. White and Frank Sullivan; Bryn Mawr College's Canaday Library, which has Katharine S. White's papers; the University of Oregon Library, which has Jane Grant's; Yale University's Beinecke Library, which has Rebecca West's correspondence and James Thurber's New Yorker-related material; and Boston University's Mugar Library, which keeps the Ralph Ingersoll collection. I similarly acknowledge the libraries of the University of Wyoming, Hamilton College, Harvard University, the University of Florida, New York University, Princeton University, and Syracuse University, as well as the Library of Congress, the New-York Historical Society, and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

Saving the best for lastthanks, Deb, for the countless ways you helped make this happen, and for everything else.