Bragdon Annotated Correspondence, 1922-23

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1.   January 13, 1922

Peter Uspenskii to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  55a Gwendowr Road

 

 

  • Uspenskii asks Bragdon to publish his book himself because he expects a large demand for Tertium Organum after his new books are published.  He now believes that a cheaper English edition could be produced in Germany and asks whether Bragdon wants to make arrangements.


2.   February 1, 1922

Lady Rothermere to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  London

  • Lady Rothermere is absorbed in Uspenskii's teachings.  T.O. is extremely serious and free of all religious sentimentality.  Uspenskii is writing another book as reference to his teachings.  If T.O. is bothering Bragdon, Rothermere will publish it there.


3.   March 8, 1922

Peter Uspenskii to Claude Bragdon

  • Uspenskii has received two letters from Bragdon—one containing a check for $200, the other a check for $88.30.  This will be the final payment for the first edition of T.O.  Bragdon's arrangement with Knopf is satisfactory.  Uspenskii asks Bragdon to speak to Bessaraboff about sending the title and introductory pages in the revised form of T.O.


4.   March 14, 1922

Roerich to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  885 West End

  • Roerich has read "Oracle" and believes that Mrs. Bragdon [Eugenie] was a "pur and high soul…to receive those calls."  Roerich references a letter in the Sunday Times from 12 March from [Leound Andreieu?], who was "already prepared for the great work" last year.


5.   May 12, 1922

Florence C. Peck to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  Richmond Hill, NY

  • Peck met Bragdon personally in her home where a friend brought him to hear Professor Bjerregaarde and also was introduced to him by Mr. and Mrs. Halcomb.  Peck has read "Oracle" and realized that her "method of obtaining knowledge will not be new" to him.  She encloses instructions on the Fourth Dimension voiced to her by a teacher and asks Bragdon to evaluate it based on his research.


6.   May 27, 1922

Florence C. Peck to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  Richmond Hill, NY

  • Peck received an answer to her previous inquiry (letter 5) and is grateful for Bragdon's insights.  Peck obeyed a "strong urge" to prepare for publication some of the teachings given her—one on reincarnation and another on psychic powers and changes coming to earth in the near future.  Upon taking the manuscripts to leading publishers, she was told it was "much to mystical" to be published commercially, but had some literary merit.


7.   November 9, 1922

Llewelyn Powys[1] to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  New York City

8.   December 26, 1922

Llewelyn Powys to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  New York City

9.   January 19, 1923

Miss Ethel Franklin Ellis to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  The Poets' Guild, Christodora House, 147 Avenue B, NYC

  • Ellis writes on behalf of Miss Anna [Brousle?] to ask for advice and help in putting on Josephine Preston Peabody's[2] one-act play ["Whips?] for the Women's Poets Auxiliary in the spring.  She is looking for advice on "the best way of lighting and arrangement."


10. January 22, 1923 (22?)

Claude Bragdon to Fritz Trautman
Addressed from:  118 East 54th Street, NYC

  • Kirk has asked Bragdon to write and tell Trautman and Harry that they are welcome to make headquarters at Kirk's farm.  The idea came after a letter from May saying that he had given up trying to find a place in Rochester.


11. February 24, 1923

Claude Bragdon to Francis Bacon
Addressed from:  Claude Bragdon, Architect, 414 Cutler Building, Rochester, NY

  • Bragdon has "revolted against this dreadful Industrial slave-making slave-driving civilization" and feels triumphant.  He has made money on an advertising job and sold some of his books at a large premium.  He feels "utterly at peace."  Bragdon feels that he will get the job Bacon wishes for him on his terms.  The "Great Experiment" of his life is getting everything on his terms or not at all and he believes it will "work to the end."  He mentions a letter from Chan.  Bragdon has adjusted himself to his environment and feels that he has no lack of friends.  In his spare time, he reads Henry James and is thinking about a trip to New York City to spend Easter with his boys.


12. March 18, 1923

Sam Putnam to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from 2459 North Albany Avenue

  • Putnam encloses his review of Tertium Organum, which appeared in the Chicago Daily News on Wednesday, February 14, 1923.  Because of the "character of the book," Putnam had no trouble printing the review and thinks of it as a payment on the debt he has owed Bragdon for years.  He mentions a poet named Mark Turbyfill who was inspired by Bragdon's Primer of Higher Space.


13. March 18, 1923

Peter Uspenskii to Claude Bragdon

  • Uspenskii has received copies of the new edition of T.O. from Knopf and thinks it produced well, with the exception of a borzoi dog, which he thinks is too American.  He wants to include title-designs by Bragdon in the book if possible.  He hopes to finish new books during the summer.


14. March 22, 1923

Carl H. Pierce to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  Controlling Realty Corporation, Builders and Developers, 245 West 34th Street, New York

  • Pierce wishes to arrange a meeting between his teacher, Mr. Pequino, and Bragdon.  He asks when Bragdon will be in town.  In a post-script, he mentions an article in Sunday's World with Uspenskii's name in a story about a new sect in France.


15. March 28, 1923

Carl H. Pierce to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  Controlling Realty Corporation, Builders and Developers, 245 West 34th Street, New York

  • Pequino will not be able to make in on Sunday.  Pierce asks Bragdon about possible meeting times next week.


16. April 16, 1923

Peter Uspenskii to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  55a Gwendowr Road

  • Uspenskii asks about the arrangement with Knopf over the second payment for T.O.  Uspenskii expected payment a few months ago and is writing Bragdon because the agreement was made through him.  He again asks about Bragdon's chapter designs being included in the next edition and about the dog being removed from the front page.  He will write to Bessaraboff about a few slight mistakes made in translation.


17. April 28, 1923

Claude Bragdon to Francis Bacon
Addressed from:  Claude Bragdon, Architect, 414 Cutler Building, Rochester, NY

  • Hampden has taken the National Theatre in New York for next season and asked Bragdon to consult on his productions of Shakespeare.  Bragdon will start work on Othello, The Merchant, and Romeo and Juliet.  He will travel to the College of William and Mary to give a lecture and advise them on some building projects.  He was consulted on a project in Detroit: "a new Chataqua—hotel, auditorium, school and so forth."  Bragdon is unsure that this will materialized.  Harry Wilkinson has asked Bragdon to help with an apartment house.  Bragdon expects to stay in Rochester and work on "this theatrical problem," about which he is "immensely keen."


18. May, 1923

Sam Putnam to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from:  4928 North Ridgeway Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

  • Putnam is mailing a copy of Turbyfill's book The Living Frieze and also encloses a copy of a circular for a book called Evaporation, which he and "M.T." hope to publish on May 28.  He asks whether Bragdon knows Merejkowsky, author of "Sagesse occulte de l'Orient.  La Joie celeste de la Terre," which appeared in Mercure de France.


19. June 23, 1923

Peter Uspenskii to Claude Bragdon
Addressed from 55a Gwendowr Rd., London

  • Uspenskii received Bragdon's letter and cheque for ₤27.10.  He understands the necessity of authors' corrections in the proofs and that expenses are unavoidable.  He agrees that Bragdon should keep $100 for proofreading from next year's royalties and asks that N.R. Bessaraboff be paid $100, also from next year's royalties.  Uspenskii is busy with his two new books, but does not think he will finish the Russian text before winter.


20. September 10, 1923

Claude Bragdon to Kathleen and Frank Cunningham
Addressed from:  118 E 54th Street, New York City

  • Bragdon is happier in New York than in Rochester.  He spent the previous day on the farm with [Cossart]? and Valerie and plans to have dinner with [Harduriche Nevin]?, Margaret Mower and Helen [Nabius]?.  Bragdon is alone in New York, but does not feel lonely and has found a "spiritual brother" in Murray.


21. December 25, 1923

Peter Uspenskii to Claude Bragdon

  • Uspenskii thanks Bragdon for sending a draft of $100 and for sending money due to Spencer Kellogg.  He reminds Bragdon to pay his debt to Nicholas Bessaraboff with the next royalty.  Uspenskii's friend G.J. Gurdjieff[3] is coming to America with his pupils to arrange a series of public demonstrations of rhythmic exercises of different Eastern schools and Dervish dances.  One of Uspenskii's books, Fragments of an Unknown Teaching includes Gurdjieff's system, which is a popularization of an "esoteric doctrine which he and his friends brought from their travels in the East."

 

 


FOOTNOTES—1922:

People:

 

 

  • Knopf (3)
  • Leound Andreieu (4)
  • Florence C. Peck (5)
  • Professor Bjerregaarde (5)
  • Mr. and Mrs. Halcomb (5)
  • Llewelyn Powys (7)
  • Miss Anna [Brousle?] (9)
  • Josephine Preston Peabody (9)
  • Chan (11)
  • Sam Putnam (12)
  • Mark Turbyfill (12)
  • Pequino? (14)
  • Harry Wilkinson (17)
  • M.T. (18)
  • N.R. Bessaraboff (Nicholas) (19)
  • [Cossart]? and Valerie (20)
  • [Harduriche Nevin]? (20)—poet?  "God-like looks and beautiful voice"
  • Margaret Mower (20)—anxious to play Roxane (Cyrano?)
  • Helen [Nabius]? (20)
  • Murray (20)
  • Spencer Kellogg (21)
  • G.J. Gurdjieff (21)

 


NOTES

 

[1] Lewellyn Powys (1884-1939) was a novelist and journalist.  He spent five years (1914-1919) as a farmer in Kenya and came to New York in 1920 to pursue a career in journalism.  He married Alyse Gregory, who was the managing editor for The Dial.  His books include Black Laughter, The Verdict of Bridlegoose, and The Pathetic Fallacy (Current Biography Yearbook 1940-1980, no. 40).

[2] Josephine Preston Peabody (1874-1922) was a dramatist and poet.  She served as an instructor of English at Wellesley College (Who's Who in America, Vol. 1)

[3] George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1868-1949) was a well-known teacher of the occult.  He traveled in the East and acquired a knowledge of the occult which he summed up in one phrase, "I deal in solar energy."  He established the Institute for Harmonious Development of Man in 1922 and took on about 60 disciples, most of them Russian.  His basic teaching was the need to harmonize and unite the physical, intellectual, and emotional faculties to make the "whole man" (Longman Companion to 20th Century Literature).

 


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