ALS in pencil signed “TD,” one page, 3.5 x 5.5, no date. Dreiser writes to Lengel. In full: “With these corrections—(Maybe not all) I seek U: OK. Very good indeed. All my dearest love…” Also: carbon copy of an original article “The Odore in Somnia Drei Ser” by William C. Lengel, 4 pages, 8.25 x 11.25, no date. Lengel’s New York City address is typed in the upper left of the first page. The complete title of the article is “THE ODORE IN SOMNIA DREISER/(Try that on your saxaphone)/-Or-/A SURE CURE FOR SLEEPLESSNESS” by William C. Lengel. Dresier has made numerous pencil corrections on two pages, adding a total of nearly 100 words. Page three has apparently been crumpled by mistake and then flattened. Lengel’s introduction, in full: “This is the story told by Theodore Dreiser of how he cured himself of insomnia. Like all of Mr. Dreiser’s stories it has a moral and even if it didn’t have a moral there are, no doubt, many many readers of The Saturday Evening Post who suffer from insomnia and this story may serve as a lesson to them.” The following, in which Dreiser writes of the time “it seemed there were weeks on weeks when I did not sleep a wink,” is from page two. The words in brackets were handwritten by Dreiser: “Often in the dead of night [during the first three months mind you—not afterwards] after tossing restlessly in my bed I would get up and sit on a bench in the park or walk under the stars and then as dawn was breaking I would go back to bed and perhaps have an hour’s fitful sleep.” After crossing out “So that I might have advantage of this brief period of rest I pulled,” Dreiser adds, “[Later, feeling myself to be in the grip of the same ill & tossing & tumbling as I was sure that I did I devised the scheme of pulling] down [my] shades and [drawing up] curtains so that the rays of the sun could not come in [and] waken me.” The corrected manuscript and Dreiser’s letter are housed together in a brad-bound leatherette folder imprinted on the cover “Manuscript/Theodore Dreiser’s Insomnia/Edited In His Own Handwriting”; Lengel’s name is imprinted at the lower right. In fine condition overall, with toning and scattered light wrinkling and handling wear. Lengel (1888-1965) was a novelist and playwright who was managing editor of Hearst’s International magazine and associate editor of Cosmopolitan and Liberty magazines. His obituary in the New York Times points out that “he liked to tell associates of his relationships with great writers, particularly Theodore Dreiser.” A rare example of the author at work. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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