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William Targ Postcards from Samuel Beckett
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
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Samuel Barclay Beckett (1906–1989) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, he wrote in both English and French.
Targ, William, 1907-1999American editor William Targ (1907-1999) was editor-in-chief at World Publishing Company, G.P. Putnam's Sons, and later publisher of Targ Editions. Targ was also a bookseller, collector (including a noted Beckett collector), and writer. After the death of his first wife, Anne Jesselson, in 1965, Targ married Roslyn Siegel, a literary agent, who represented Samuel Beckett, among others.
This collection consists of 47 postcards from Irish author Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) to American book editor and noted Beckett collector William Targ (1907-1999). Some of the correspondence is jointly addressed to Targ's wife, Roslyn Targ (1925-2017), Beckett's long-time American literary agent. Written in a succinct style, the correspondence dates from Beckett's time in Paris and Berlin. Some subjects that are covered include arrangements for Beckett to inscribe copies of his works for Targ's collection; meetings in Paris; mentions of travel, health matters, forthcoming Beckett publications, and references to other writers, including James Joyce and Saul Bellow.
Purchased from Peter Grogan in 2019. AM 2020-17
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This collection was processed by Faith Charlton in September 2019 with assistance from Alia Wood '20. Finding aid written by Faith Charlton in September 2019.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2019 processing beyond routine appraisal practices.
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- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Faith Charlton
- Finding Aid Date
- 2019
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Open for research.
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