[LORRAINE]Livre Rare Book
Letters: Love Letters Sent Between Two Artists During their Summers Apart in 1948 and 1949
1949ref. 413909Bronx New York / Bethlehem New Hampshire / Arlington Virginia / Miami Florida 1949. Unbound. Near Fine. A collection of 219 letters 12 postcards and 14 greeting cards between Lorraine Horty Silbiger and Gerry Gersten in 1948 and 1949 during their summers apart from each other along with one 4” x 3” black and white photograph. All items are near fine with light creases from being mailed with clear handwritten and typed text. Gersten 1927-2017 grew up in the Bronx not far from Silbiger 1929-2002. While neither of his Polish Jewish immigrant parents supported his desire to be an artist Gersten persisted attending the Cooper Union Art School and Cooper School of Design. He found success starting in the 1960s as a caricaturist drawing for The New York Times New York magazine Sports Illustrated Time Newsweek Harper's Rolling Stone Esquire Playboy and later MAD Magazine from 1986 to 2009. Gersten and Silbiger married in 1951. During the summers of 1948 and 1949 Gersten worked in Bethlehem New Hampshire at the Park View Hotel bussing tables. During that time he wrote love letters to Silbiger who spent her summers traveling to Arlington Virginia and Miami Florida with family and friends. The couple wrote to each other nearly every day. Both Gersten and Silbiger were going to school for art and their letters to each other are covered in doodles and cartoons of them kissing chasing after each other with plenty of hearts. One particularly adorable drawing by Gersten features the couple kissing on a park bench holding a large heart with their initials inside. Another is of him being held in her arms in the apartment. In one letter Silbiger writes: “I looked at my face in the mirror. My mouth looks different since you haven’t been kissing me. I guess my mouth misses you also.” Gersten’s letters are usually about lamenting his job at the hotel and the guests not tipping him “I used to light his cigarettes with your lighter. The ingrate never knew how close to heaven he was.” But more so he pines for his faraway girlfriend and later wife “I had planned to wait twelve days before answering your letter. I thought I’d play it hard and take you down a full two pegs but I couldn’t hold out. The longer I take to write means I have to wait that much longer for an answer from you. I’m a shadow of my former self. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.” During the first summer Gersten counts “pegs” for every couple days he goes without a letter from Silbiger teasing her that she is slacking on writing letters. He affectionately calls her “Horty” “Bigger” and “Tzib” while his nicknames are “Cubbles” and “B.B.” for Beautiful Busboy. While the letters aren’t lewd a few hint at being more adult “Tonight I’m taking a shower to worship my hair – close your eyes and start thinking – dirty boy… Marry me” Included in one letter is a photograph of Silbiger lounging in her bathing suit on a bench by the beach. The pair frequently sent each other post cards and clippings of cartoons from newspapers and magazines. Often their initials will be written on the cartoon characters especially if the cartoon depicts a couple. Silbiger sends little cards illustrated with puppies hearts and kiss marks she also kissed a couple of the envelopes and letters that she sent with lipstick. Some of Silbiger’s letters contain various ephemera. One example is an unopened Pixie: X Ray Roundup bubblegum stick with a small collectable card of Guy Madison starring in When a Man’s a Man. Some other items includes a U.S. Navy recruitment letter from 1945 when Gersten was 18 a physical examination sheet with Gersten’s information on it and a typed poem from Jimmie J. Schneider referenced in some letters from Silbiger as one of her other suitors. An extensive collection of love letters between two young artists in the days following World War II. unknown
Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA · Estados Unidos4500,00 US$≈ 4020,37 €
