.Mjky.MjM1Nw

February 9, 1959

Dr. Bernard H. Porter 677 East Colorado Street Pasadena, California Dear Dr. Porter: Your letter of December 18 has just come to our attention, and we are sorry that you had no reply from us sooner. Your offer to send additional material to the Maine Author Collection is very much appreciated; but we are eager to add the writing of Maine authors, and obliged to establish this qualification for the collection. There have been a number of eminent Maine publishers, of course; and, had we the space, it would certainly make an awesome display to gather all the books which have been published from, say, Frank Munsey to date, in this classification. It is idle to speculate, however, for we have not the space, nor the staff, nor of course the funds to establish such a collection. We must, therefore, decline to accept the generous offer which you make us. Your own books we certainly want, and we hope that you will continue to inscribe and present them to the collection. We regret that under the definition of the collection at present we cannot take advantage of your most interesting and appreciated offer.

Sincerely yours

In Charge of Maine Author Collection hmj

�