LONDON JACK: (1876-1916) On one of his short stories - ´ merely a shit without merit´

LONDON JACK: (1876-1916) On one of his short stories - ´ merely a shit without merit´

LONDON JACK: (1876-1916) American novelist, a pioneer of commercial fiction whose works included The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush. A good A.L.S., Jack London, one page, oblong 8vo, Oakland, California, 2nd November 1904, to Mr. Johnson. London writes to his American editor at Macmillan and discusses his current work, in full, ´Just now, I am working on a play - but expect to knock out a couple of short stories when I have finished play. I have done only 2 short stories since my return from Japan, one of which you saw - the other was merely a shit without merit´. A letter of interesting content demonstrating London´s prolific output, as well as his brutally honest opinion of his work. Some very light, extremely minor age wear, VG

In early 1904 London had accepted an assignment to cover the Russo-Japanese War for William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner. The author was arrested several times by the Japanese authorities, on one occasion for straying too close to the border with Manchuria without official permission. London sought Hearst's authorisation to transfer to the Imperial Russian Army, where he felt that restrictions on his reporting and his movements would be less severe. However, before this could be arranged, London was arrested for a third time in four months. Released through the personal intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt, London departed the front in June 1904.

At the time of the present letter London was working on The Acorn Planter, A California Forest Play, which was intended to be performed at one of the Bohemian Club's annual Grove Plays but was never selected. London later published the work in 1916. London had ten short stories published between February and December 1905.