Davidson & Reichert Letters
Laid-In Chronicles
Roughly two years back, out of habit more than purpose, I clicked the first two bookmarks on my browser. The Advanced Search on Biblio and AbeBooks opened. The dopamine, like iodine contrast, carved its path through me, relentless as pioneers pushing down wild, uncharted rivers. Perfectly normal behavior, of course. I typed “Donald Davidson” into the field, as if by instinct, and checked the box for “signed.” There’s always something worth finding.
In 1965, Vanderbilt University Press issued one hundred signed and numbered copies of Donald Davidson: An Essay and a Bibliography, by Thomas Daniel Young and M. Thomas Inge. These special copies were a tribute to Donald Davidson on the occasion of his retirement from Vanderbilt’s English Department. I was fortunate enough to purchase two of them. The first, numbered 35, was a pristine edition, once belonging to Dr. Kenneth M. England, who had joined Georgia State’s English Department in 1952 and later held the roles of Dean of Men and Dean of Students.
I hadn’t set out to buy two of the same book—I don’t collect for the sake of filling shelves. I’m a reader, a keeper of things worth keeping. But that volume sat in my cart, waiting. I kept scrolling. Then another copy of Young and Inge’s work caught my eye, and something in my mind slowed my hand. Ten dollars for a signed, numbered edition with a letter inside? The shop had lousy ratings, but ten dollars—after all, why shouldn’t I buy it? I clicked, the cart filled.
Book Collecting Glossary
laid-in: "Laid In" indicates that there is something which is included with, but not attached to the book, such as a sheet of The paper item can be a letter, picture, press release, map, or postcard which is loose inside the book. In rare book collecting, an autograph from the author can sometimes be laid-in, increasing the value of the book.1
A few days later, a package arrived, its shape unmistakable. Inside, the book. Inside the book, three letters and a newspaper clipping, Davidson’s NYT obituary (I see America’s “newspaper of record” hasn’t changed much). The book was number 81 of the one hundred, presented to “Dr. & Mrs. Reichert,” and the letters, of course, all pertain to them. I’ve transcribed the letters below, though it took more work than I expected. The first is from Victor E. Reichert to Davidson, the second from Davidson to the Reicherts, and the third from Theresa Davidson to Louise Reichert.
Dr. Victor E. Reichert and Donald Davidson taught together at the Bread Loaf School2 in Ripton, Vermont—which, according to Russell Kirk, was a ”place [Davidson] and his wife retreated every summer, taking pains to avoid New York City en route.” In their newsletter, The Crumb, you can read more about the Bread Loaf School of English. Victor E. Reichert (1897-1990) “was rabbi of the Rockdale Avenue Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1938 to 1962 and shared a long friendship with the American poet Robert Frost.”3
According to Mark Royden Winchell, Reichert is “a scholar who was equally at home in nature and in the study” and goes unnamed in Davidson’s poem “The Ninth Part of Speech”, but “is Zahner's ‘neighbor down the road,’ who sits with bench and blackboard, raising the songs of Moses under his maple trees.”4
Dr. Reichert’s Letter
Feb. 10, 1966 752 Red Bud Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45229 Dear Donald and Teresa: You will never know the thrill of delight that swept over Louise and myself as we held your exquisite book: Donald Davidson An Essay and a Bibliography By Thomas Daniel Young and M. Thomas Inge, Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville — 1965, in our hands. We thank you most affectionately for this gift. The book itself is wrought with superb care and remarkable taste. And I have been reading its rich contents with great joy and instruction. The birds have been chirping the sure coming of Spring on Red Bud after the big blizzard of a few days ago and we look forward to seeing you in the not too remote future in Ripton to thank you in person for this rare gift. Louise adds her love to mine Ever, Victor E. Reichert
Donald Davidson’s Response
410 Fairfax Ave. Nashville, Tenn. 37212 February 16, 1966 Dear Victor and Louise: I’m glad you like The Inge–Young book and am most grateful for your letter. The book, I must explain, is a kind of by-product or offshoot of a larger work these two young colleagues of mine are working on—an awfully daring thing!—a book about my all too cumbrous and miscellaneous writings, poetry, prose, everything! I had shown Young an old notebook of mine that had in it (along with other material) some drafts of The Lee poem. I expected, of course, that it might help him in his work—the big book. When I returned from Vermont in the autumn of ‘64, I was surprised to discover that the English department here had worked on him (Young), and the project, resulting in the present book, had developed to the point where I couldn’t easily stop it. More about all of this when we see you at Bread Loaf. Vanderbilt Press made a handsome book of it, sure enough—and won an award on format, design, etc. But the contents—indeed, they are a little Technical! Univ. of Minnesota Press will soon be sending you and Louise my Poems, 1922-61 – sort of a gathering-up of old things, most of which you have already seen. We should have written you before this to give an account of ourselves and the trip—also to thank Louise for that kind note that did not catch us in Paris but did finally reach us here. Since returning in December we have had something of a struggle to get “re-acclimated” (whatever the word is) and caught-up with the world hereabouts and our correspondence. We slept a great deal of the time between December 8th, when we reached Nashville, and Christmas, and really are only now again in something like normal order-of-battle—or is it order-of-peace! The European adventure went splendidly, the whole way. We had a great many surprises, nearly all of them pleasant. The weather was good—very good. Only light showers in Ireland & London. From then on fair weather nearly all the time. In Ireland, our friend Bryan MacMahon, the Irish writer, took us over, both in Dublin and in his house in County Kerry, Southwest Ireland. In London we were with the Cleanth Brookses for parts of two days—and otherwise, too, fared well in London. I checked a 15th Century MS in the British Museum, and Theresa checked a medieval MS (pertaining to the Theodosian Code) in The Ambrosiana Library at Milan. We carried out our “program” – as planned – in Paris, Bad Godesberg, Rome—and brought everything to a nice climax in our long stay in Athens. I’ll save the details until we see you and Louise and can compare notes on Europe with you. It was raining at Halifax when we landed, cold and snowy in Canada, but relatively mild by the time we reached Middlebury. Foster Motors had our car in good shape, and we had an easy drive to Nashville. In Middlebury we saw the Upsons and the Cooks. When we reached Montreal we thought especially of you and your kindness in helping us get there and on board the excellent Empress of England. Now I’m all tangled up in paper-work of all kinds. Not so much too many irons in the fire as too many papers that I can’t put into the fire but must somehow live with until I fulfill my promises—for I, too, have some to keep. Theresa joins me in best love to you and Louise and look forward to seeing you, I trust in good health and spirits, at our beloved retreat in the Yankee Alps. Your wonderful translation, Victor, is on my table and I read it, in snatches, whenever I can. What a great gift you have! As ever, Donald
Theresa Davidson’s Letter
October 23, 1971 Dear Louise: The above date is deceptive—not that I didn’t intend to write this letter at the time I wrote the date. It’s just that I was interrupted at that point and somehow never could get back to it. And it just now occurs to me that you might not have reached Cincinnati until some time later, anyhow, I was forgetting about your trip to Asheville, N.C. I hope that it was a pleasant one. I am sure that Victor made a fine impression with his lecture (lectures?), as he always does, and that you left behind many new friends. (Now the date is November 6! Another long interruption) I’m getting further and further behind on everything and can only hope that I am not making too many enemies as a consequence—and maybe losing copyrights, too. I have not heard from Dulcie and have been worrying about her. Did she manage to leave Vermont before your departure? If so, she must have made a quick recovery from her illness. I hope so. I have just received Francis Cram’s bill for closing the house and other work—but no mention of having supplied you with a tamarack seedling, as I had asked him to do. I shall remind him to do it at the beginning of the summer season next year, if that will be satisfactory to you. The ride to Burlington with you and Miss Billings through the lovely autumn-colored Vermont country was a delightful way to end one more summer at Bread Loaf, and I am grateful to you for it. I imagine that your trip through the Southern Appalachians provided some gorgeous sights, too. If you have never done so, I hope that you can take that trip in the Spring sometime. Donald and I did that once—starting from South Carolina, where the azaleas and Camellias were in bloom—as well as every sort of wild shrubs, trees and wild flowers of every sort—all the way up to Lexington, VA, where we spent two or three days at Washington and Lee, where Donald was honored with a degree. It’s hard for me to believe that it is now November 11. This letter has been interrupted so many times that it probably is a mere jumble and doesn’t make any sense at all. I’m scared to read it for fear I wouldn’t have the nerve to send it to you, and I know that if I would start a new letter it might suffer the same fate. And so I send it with apologies and much love, and best wishes to you and Victor. Sincerely, Theresa
I’ve archived Photos and PDFs of the Letters.
Archive results for Bread Loaf/Reichert.
You can find letters between Frost and Reichert in Selected Letters of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964.
Reichert wrote the chapter “The Robert Frost I Knew” in Frost, Centennial Essays III. University Press of Mississippi, 1978. and the chapter “The Faith of Robert Frost” in Frost, Centennial Essays. University Press of Mississippi, 1974.
Winchell, Mark Royden. Where No Flag Flies: Donald Davidson and the Southern Resistance. University of Missouri Press, 2000, p. 332.