Two Autographs Letter Signed ('George Goold' and 'George') to Paul Quinton, Classical Department, Blackwell's of Oxford; with inscribed offprint of Goold's lecture 'Richard Bentley, a Tercentenary Commemoration'.

Both letters two pages, quarto. LETTER ONE (annotated in ink with some ink marks in the blank space beneath Goold's signature): Written at the point at which Goold was relinquishing the University College Latin Chair to return to Yale. 'I told you I should be visiting Yale this autumn; and now I have to tell you that I shall be going on to Stanford after Christmas till March. Still, if I shan't have the pleasure of coming in occassionally to the bookshop, it probably means that I shall be ordering more books from you!' Orders a couple of copies of Austin's 'Aeneid'. 'To my great delight classics are thriving at Yale (as also at Harvard, where I went to a party a week or so ago); I don't know whether this reflects a national trend, quite likely not, but I'm glad to be at a place where there are so many people taking classics courses that one hasn't to worry about being sacked because of the dearth of students.' Discusses his wife's job ('we see each other only at weekends') and 'the Marshalls' ('they very kindly met us at Boston airport, & contributed much to our being able to settle down so well'). 'The printers of the Loeb Classical Library [of which Goold was Chief Editor] continue to make the most appalling mistakes. They bound the whole of my Manilius before discovering that they had printed ASTRONMICA (rather than - NOMICA) on the spine! The result is that the spine will now have a costly cover-up job done on it and another two months' delay. Absolutely infuriating. I can, I suppose, comfort myself with the thought that this is likely to be the best £3.90 worth in Latin studies - but I've shed as much of my blood on thhe book as I care.' Asks if Blackwell's want to stock his edition of Horace's odes. LETTER TWO (with negligible coffee stain): Is sorry to learn that Quinton has 'been put on half-time'. 'But I gather, reading between the lines, that Blackwell's is not devoid of humanity, and that some special (i.e. better) arrangement may be possible. And it may be congenial for you to work on second-hand books exclusively'. Speculates that there are enough copies of out of print classics books 'to enable one English bookseller to do a good trade'. Places an order for three works. 'I need hardly say that I look forward to a continuation of our personal contact, & promise my undiminished interest in whatever you can come up with in the second-hand book line. Discusses the complicated publishing plans for the Harvard Servius. 'I don't expect any difficulty, although I anticipate being pressured into cutting back on typographical excellence.' 'I get the impression that Britain's new government is proving more popular & successful than most thought possible. Contrariwise, the oil crisis has hit America hard: the other day I had to wait 2 hours in a nearly mile-long queue of cars to get my tank filled'. Discusses car dependency, and the cutting out of wasteful consumption. THE OFFPRINT is of eighteen pages, octavo, stapled into original grey printed wraps. Very good, with a trace of rust to the staples. Front wrap inscribed to 'P. Q. with best wishes from G. P. G.'