Between the Covers

Unbound. Quarto sheets. Measuring 8.5" x 8". Two pages in pencil on laid paper with watermark of a crane and "Japanese Linen 1886," written on two sheets, rectos only. Old creases from prior folding, some wear and discoloration, but near fine.

An astonishingly sophisticated letter by the 7-year old Helen Keller to her cousin Anna Keller Turner and her husband George, describing a train trip to Huntsville, Alabama, that she took with her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Keller began studying with Sullivan in March of 1887. This letter, written only months later, demonstrates Keller's remarkable progress in learning to communicate, and it is one of the earliest known Keller letters. Michael Anagnos, the director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, describes Keller's gains after beginning her studies with Annie Sullivan: "In the course of four months Helen mastered more than four hundred and fifty common words -- nouns, verbs transitive and intransitive, adjectives and prepositions which she could use correctly and spell with perfect accuracy. At the same time she learned to read raised characters with the tips of her fingers almost spontaneously and with very little effort on the part of her instructress, to converse freely by means of the manual alphabet, to cipher, to write a neat 'square hand,' and to express her elementary ideas in correct composition" (Anagnos, "Helen Keller. A Second Laura Bridgman," in Fifty-Sixth Annual Report of The Perkins Institution And Massachusetts School For The Blind, 1888).

Anagnos describes a letter written by Keller to her mother on 12 July 1887 during a trip to Hunstville and then briefly mentions the present letter: "On her return to Tuscumbia from her visit to Huntsville, Helen wrote a long letter to her cousin George, giving him a minute account of everything that occurred on her way home. She speaks of her meeting in the steam-cars a kind lady, who gave her a drink of water but who 'did talk wrong on fingers.'"

The letter reads in its entirety:

"helen will write letter to cousin george[.] helen and teacher did go to huntsville[.] steam car does go fast george[.] did give helen soda water[.] anna did buy helen pretty new hat[.] helen did play with pinky horse does like sugar[.] mr. rea did kiss helen[.] carlotta will come to see helen in tuscumbia[.] corinne and may and louise did come to see helen[.] robert did shoot little bird wrong[.] helen and teacher did come home. lady did talk wrong on fingers. conductor did take ticket and punch. teacher did buy orange and helen did put orange in bag for mother[.] leila has little new baby[.] new baby is bessie[.] bessie is eva sister[.] mildred is helen sister[.] helen is sick[.] doctor will give medicine to make well[.] helen does love george and anna[.] helen will kiss george and anna[.] good-by[,] helen keller[.]"

The letter is accompanied by a Cabinet Card Photo of Keller, by Collins of Huntsville, Alabama; as well as 20 additional 19th Century cabinet cards of other close Keller family members, including three images of Anna Turner, the recipient of this letter. In addition there are six more 19th Century photographs (all but one are cabinet cards) of more distant Keller family relations, all photographs identified on the backs in a later hand.

Keller's autobiography (*The Story of My Life,* 1903) contains a section on her letters. A short note to her cousin Anna is listed as her earliest letter (June 17, 1887) followed by a longer letter to her mother on July 12, 1887. The chronology then skips to September 1887 when Keller writes an encouraging letter to the blind girls at the Perkins Institution. An August 21, 1887 letter by Annie Sullivan mentions a "beautiful time in Huntsville" which would place the present letter sometime in mid-July — making it perhaps the third earliest known Keller letter. The handwriting and grammatical constructions, especially the use of "did" in past tense constructions and the omission of articles, is consistent with Keller's early letter-writing style.

One of the earliest known letters by Helen Keller, written just months after beginning her studies with Annie Sullivan, with additional family photographs. A remarkable artifact, and possibly the earliest Keller letter not held in an institution.

Item #412705