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Bengali poet, playwright, philosopher, and author (1861–1941) who became the first non-European to win a Nobel Prize (Literature) in 1913. TLS, two pages, 8.5 x 11.5, July 4, 1916. Letter to lecture tour manager James B. Pond, Jr., in part: "You will have received my two cables the first one being as follows: 'Accept percentage offer. Arrange thirty lectures and readings. Reaching Seattle August. Tagore.' The second cable, sent after the receipt of your own cable in which you advise a later date for the commencement of the tour, tells you that I shall be arriving at Seattle on September the 15th.
The boat which I intend to take is the 'Canada Maru' of the Osaka Shusen Kaisha and is due to arrive at Seattle on the 16th of September. As it is a cargo boat the actual date of its arrival is not certain, but you may regard my arrival during that week as certain, and can arrange my tour accordingly. Turning now to the question of the tour itself, I understand your percentage offer to mean that I shall receive 80% of the net receipts from each engagement, out of which I am to pay my own railway and hotel expenses. You guarantee that from no single engagement shall I receive less than $250, and that you will arrange for not less than 30 engagements exclusive of lectures before Universities.
As I have said in my cable, I shall give both readings and also lectures, and I think that the readings will be better suited for the public audiences which you will arrange for. I suggest that you should so arrange the tour that it will be possible for me to deliver my lectures before University audiences in those cities which lie naturally on the direct route of my tour. You are best qualified to judge which would be the best cities in which to give these lectures, so I leave the choice to you. I may merely mention that one of the lectures which I am at present writing for the purpose of this American tour is on the subject 'What is Art?'.
My readings would consist of selections from my already published works such as 'Gitanjali' and 'The Gardener', and also from the unpublished poems which are to be published later on, and also of my short stories and some new plays which have not yet been published. I think these will interest my hearers.
I shall be here in Japan until the end of August and any further communication should be addressed to me at Yokohama." In fine condition, with small tears and losses to the bottom edge. Accompanied by an additional handwritten letter by Tagore's son, and a retained carbon copy of Pond's reply to it.
From the personal collection of a lifelong collector, teacher, and traveler with a passion for world history. His collecting years ranged from the 1970s to the present day, meaning that several of the premier pieces have not been on the market in decades.
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