Large archive in relation to artist Benjamin Benno and Henry Miller

MILLER, Henry – Large archive in relation to artist Benjamin Benno
 
*A large archive of correspondence and transcripts to artist Benjamin Benno from Henry Miller, dated between 1934 and 1938*
 
The collection consists of: 1934: Five hand-written letters all one page in length; all five were written by Miller to Benno whilst both were living in Paris. 1935: Three typed letters from Miller to Benno; both are signed by Miller; one letter is six pages long, another three pages and a third is a page; both were composed by Miller in the US when he was following Anais Nin and Otto Rank across the continent. 1936: Two hand-written letters 1 page in length; one letter mentioned publication of Black Spring. 1938: Three hand-written letters, all 1 page in length along with two manuscripts typed with corrections by Miller; The first manuscript is 6 pages long and is titled ‘Chez Benno’ and the second is 7 pages and titled ‘Ben Benno the Wild Man of Borneo’; along with a typed covering note and a copy of London Bulletin showing a published version of one of the manuscripts; along with the manuscripts is a CV composed by Ben Benno from 1964 providing all of his exhibitions and accolades.
 
Benno and Miller were long time acquaintances, having been part of the same scene in Greenwich Village during the early 1920s. But it wasn’t until they met again in Paris in the early 1930s did, they develop a friendship. They were both struggling to make ends meet and both striving to make a name for themselves. 
 
This important archive documents in part, their friendship and their struggles to be recognised or in Miler’s case published. In the early letters from 1934, Miller was at that time in discussions with Jack Kahane to publish Tropic of Cancer, and in one letter he mentioned to Benno that he ‘received a cordial note from [illustrator] Mary Reynolds, after she began to read the book. She says she believes she has a good idea for the cover”. In another letter he said, “Publisher is slowing up on me – but I have his promise.” Miller was friends with Dorothy Dudley, and they attended one of Benno’s exhibitions at the Galerie de Paris in 1934. 
 
Dudley was writing for the American Magazine of Art at that time. Miller acted as middleman and brought the two together. Dudley wrote ‘Four Post Moderns’ featuring Benno, in the magazine a year later. In a letter Miller invited Benno along for lunch with Dudley and said to him that she liked two of his pictures very much. 
 
In letters from Miller to Benno later in 1934, after publication of Tropic of Cancer, it was clear both were struggling financially, in one letter Miller wrote to Benno and said, “if you have 30 francs to spare today, or only half, drop it under my door will you – I’m dead broke and rustling for a meal tonight.” And then in another short note he wrote to Benno “Here’s 10 francs – all I could rustle up at the moment.” 
 
A year later Miller sent Benno three extraordinary, typed letters from New York. Miller decided to follow fellow writer and lover Anais Nin back to the US and unofficially go with her and Otto Rank across the county, as they promoted Otto Rank’s work. Unbeknown to Miller, Nin was also having an affair with Rank too. Miller used the unhappy episode to write about his experiences and this would form the basis of his second published works by The Obelisk Press ‘Aller Retour New York’. In these three letters Miller doesn’t hold back about the America that he felt lay before him “They stink! Everything stinks. Everything is calculated, opportune, money getting, success bearing, etc nothing is whole, spontaneous, reckless, fecund.” On the side of one of the letters he wrote in pencil “PPS best wishes from Anais!!”. 
 
In 1938, Miller wrote Benno a letter asking how certain it was that London Bulletin wanted an essay from Miller about him. Then Miller typed a covering letter about two manuscripts that he had produced: one was sensible called ‘Chez Benno’ and one a fantastical over the top blast called ‘Benno the Wild Man of Borneo’. He suggested to Benno that he held the manuscripts and then could choose which one to send to the Bulletin. Benno of course went sensible, and it was that essay that was published in the June 1938 edition of the magazine, of which a copy is attached with the archive. Miller himself published the fantastical version in The Booster, in September 1937. 
 
A wonderful set of letters and manuscripts, written before and after Miller published his first works through Jack Kahane’s Obelisk Press.