Content Description

The Lenniger Literary Agency Records include correspondence with clients of the agency, totaling over 10,000 letters. The Lenniger Agency was represented by August Lenniger and Edith Margolis. In addition to correspondence, there are literary manuscripts, books of published advertisements, account ledgers, published copies of books written in several languages and other miscellaneous items relating to the publication of manuscripts.

The long and detailed letters between the agents and their clients concern the problems of writing, editing, and selling contemporary publishers; and the personal problems that the agent shares with his clients. It is unusual to see a collection containing more personal information concerning the craft of writing than does this collection.

The Lenniger clients represent recognized writers within almost every field of contemporary fiction. The writers are novelists, masters of the short story, or specialists within a literary genre.

In the box and folder list, the folders simply marked with a letter of the alphabet signify that there is correspondence with multiple authors within.

The researcher should also note that some of the folders of correspondence also contain other items such as clippings, tear sheets, dust jackets, manuscript outlines, fragments and drafts. Some of the folders also contain royalty statements, contracts, personal information about the author, photographs and other such items.

The Lenniger Literary Agency Records were acquired over a several-year period and are described as they were received; therefore, the collection, in its numeric box order, contains groups of materials located intermittently throughout the collection.