The Library of Roger Wagner - PBA Galleries

127. miller, henry. Cousin Henry - 19 page typescript with holograph corrections. 19 page typescript memoir
of Miller’s cousin Henry, with holograph corrections; accompanied by a copy of the same.
No place: [1976]
An interesting memoir of Miller’s childhood visits spent with Cousin Henry on 85th Street in
Manhattan, the boys he played with, the girl he almost slept with, shenanigans with the gang in
the streets or cool cellars during the summers, playing cards & reading aloud. From one passage,
he writes: “And then there were those wonderful slices of rye bread with rich sweet butter and
sugar which his mother handed us when we came home from play. She did it as if we were two
little angels. Never did she suspect, sweet innocent creature, what her two `good little boys’ were
capable of. Never would she have believed that we two had killed a boy in a gang rock fight.
No, we looked just the same as ever that day, or perhaps a little paler, for we were conscious of
the crime we had committed. For days we trembled if there was an unexpected knock at the
door. The police were constantly on our minds. Fortunately none of the gang knew we were
responsible for the killing. We were intelligent enough to keep our mouths shut. Besides, it was
an accident and not a deliberate killing. As soon as it happened we had sneaked away. We didn’t
feel very heroic about it either....” Rust marks from paperclips; else about fine.
(300/500)
128. miller, henry. Jimmy Pasta - 22 page typescript essay with holograph corrections about Miller’s childhood
friend. 22 page typescript essay, with holograph corrections, about Miller’s childhood friend, Jimmy
Pasta, and school & young adulthood memories of his Brooklyn neighborhood. Accompanied by a
carbon copy of the same.
No place: [1976]
Pasta attended P.S. 85 with Miller in Brooklyn, and later got him a job at the office of the
Brooklyn Park Commissioner, where he began writing and eventually earned enough money
for his passage to Paris. Pasta appeared as Tony Marella in Miller’s Plexus & Nexus, and is
referred to many times in Miller’s notebooks of outlines for The Rosy Crucifixion. Holograph
corrections are generally in the form of crossing out last names of people from Miller’s
youth that he is slandering (pedophiles, homosexuals, lusty female teachers at P.S. 85, etc.).
He describes, as a 21-year old, hearing lectures given by Emma Goldman which changed
the course of his life, his first marriage (rarely talked about) to his piano teacher: “I married
her not because I was in love with her but to escape the draft. We quarreled almost from the
very beginning. Sometimes we rolled on the floor struggling with one another. It was truly
disgraceful the life we led...” (She eventually joined a nunnery after he left her for June). He
details extra-marital affairs, asking his first wife to let his mistress come live with them (she said
no), meeting and shacking up with June, June and Jean Kronski’s lesbian affair, their collective
pennilessness (“It was a cold winter and I had chopped all the furniture to pieces to make
firewood...”), meeting Pasta on the street and getting a job with the Parks Commissioner, June
and Jean leaving him for Paris, and the following years in brief. Rusty paperclip marks, else near
fine - a well-written memoir.
(400/600)
MEMOIR OF LONGTIME FRIEND JOE GRAY
129. miller, henry. Joe Gray - 44 page holograph manuscript for a chapter in Miller’s Book of Friends. 44 page
holograph manuscript for a chapter in Miller’s Book of Friends. Accompanied by two 33-page typed
photocopies.
No place: c.1976
Lengthy memoir of Miller’s longtime friend, Joe Gray, whom Miller met in Los Angeles after he
had returned from Europe. Full of sex, mischief, boxing, and adventures, Miller describes with
zeal his friend’s life, and of course his own in the process: “...For a man who had had no great
eduation it was amazing how keen his judgement of authors was. His great favorite was Byron,
followed closely by Keats and Shelley. He even named his dog Byron. For a man who could
so easily ingratiate himself with women, it was amazing to observe the affection he bestowed
on Byron. Byron came first in everything. Of course this lavish affection for a dog came about
through some heart- breaking setbacks with women. He had been betrayed three or four times,
with the result that he was absolutely adamant as regards showing any further affection toward
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