A suggestion made by American president Lyndon B Johnson to the actor Gregory Peck that the US would one day have a black, female president is among a number of illustrious anecdotes in letters written by the author Harper Lee that have come to light.
Thirty-eight letters, written between 2005 and 2010 by the To Kill a Mockingbird author to her friend Felice Itzkoff, are up for auction this week. Addressed affectionately to “Clipper”, Lee’s nickname for Itzkoff, the letters span Lee’s memories of her father, her apparent atheism and her friendship with Hollywood figures.
In one letter, dated 20 January 2009 – the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration – Lee wrote to Itzkoff: “On this Inauguration Day I count my blessings … I’m also thinking of another friend, Greg Peck, who was a good friend of LBJ. Greg said to him: ‘Do you suppose we will live to see a black president?’ LBJ said: ‘No, but I wish her well.’” Peck, who played Atticus Finch in the 1962 film adaptation of Lee’s novel, was a lifelong friend of the author.
Lee also recalls her friendship with actor Vivien Leigh, describing her as “a character, and I loved her”. In another, from 14 May 2009, she likens Horton Foote, the screenwriter of To Kill a Mockingbird, to her father: “I am so proud to say that he was my friend. I loved him with all my heart and shall miss him for as long as I am aware of anything. I never knew anybody like him except for my father, they had many traits in common. He was a great gentleman, and he did look like God!”
There are many allusions to Lee’s atheism in the letters. In a Christmas card from 2009, she writes to Itzkoff: “Most-loved Clipper: Don’t know if you celebrate Christmas, but it makes not a jot of difference to me. I am at heart a heathen. Much love, Harper.” There are frequent, sardonic references to the Bible passage Hebrews 13.8 – “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” – with Lee using it as an image of mundanity. In a letter from 26 June 2009, she writes: “My dear Friend of the beautiful face and beautiful hand: It is so Hebrews 13.8 here that I nearly go crazy from boredom, but I should not complain because things could be quite different. The truth is: I am crazy anyway.” In another in 2009, she notes: “It’s strictly Hebrews 13.8 here – nothing happens on a daily basis, and if I had sense enough to be bored, I’d be long since gone off the deep end.”
Lee was long thought to have written only one novel, until 2014 when the “sequel” Go Set a Watchman was controversially released. Originally abandoned by Lee when she began writing To Kill a Mockingbird, it was suspected by some that the book was released without her consent – and one letter contains Lee’s own position on how many books she had actually written. On 18 April 2009, she writes affectionately about her fellow southern US author Eudora Welty, who often criticised Lee for being a one-hit wonder: “Alas, I never had the privilege of meeting Miss Welty … She was the only person I ever ‘wanted to meet’. I once heard her say something about ‘Harper Lee’s case’ – talking about one-novel writers. I could have told her: as it turned out, I didn’t need to write another one – much xxx, H.”
Lee, who died in 2016 at the age of 89, was suspected by some to have developed dementia at the end of her life, but remained protected by a small group of supporters. These included her sister Alice, who died in 2014 at the age of 103, and her lawyer, Tonja Carter, who some later accused of releasing Go Set a Watchman against Lee’s wishes. But in the letters, there are small references to Lee’s awareness of her own mental state – signing one letter as “your addled Harper” and in another from 2008, which says: “I haven’t got bat sense – I blame drugs, but it’s probably senility ... Everybody here is in dementia of some sort + I am no exception. At least I can remember major events – 9/11, for example, is also Alice’s birthday. Ninety-seven + still taking care of baby sister. Much love, H.”
The starting price for the 38 letters is $10,000 (£7,580).
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