examine the unrestricted portions of the H. L. Mencken Col-
lection in that library. Dr. Julian P. Boyd, former Librarian
of the Princeton University Library, deserves the gratitude
of all students of Mencken's career for his collection of
thousands of Mencken letters and transcripts made before
Mencken's death. This selection from a vast correspondence
includes a good deal of material which would otherwise
not presently be accessible. The present Librarian of the
Princeton University Library, Dr. William S. Dix, has my
thanks for securing permission from Mr. August Mencken
for my examination of this collection; and Mr. Alexander
P. Clark, Curator of Manuscripts in the Princeton Library,
helped me to find information, made photostats of letters,
and performed other services.

Dr. Benjamin E. Powell, Librarian of the Duke Uni-
versity Library, made several intercessions in behalf of this
study, and Dr. Mattie Russell, Curator of Manuscripts in
the Duke University Library, found some Mencken letters
of relevance, especially in the Louise Pound Collection. Mrs.
George Jean Nathan thoughtfully made available material
pertinent to my history from her George Jean Nathan Studio
Library, Riverdale-on-the-Hudson, New York. I am also
indebted to Sir Herbert Read, Mr. Charles Angoff, Mr.
James Mallahan Cain, Mr. Edmund Wilson, and others for
encouraging and informative letters about the American
Mercury. Mr. Alfred Knopf's many letters concerning the
monthly and his detailed criticism of the financial story of
the magazine deserve my thanks: Mr. Knopf showed great
patience with my mistakes, correcting scores of them with-
out despairing of the project. I appreciate the permission of
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., to quote from published and copy-
righted works of H. L. Mencken.

Because this work is closely based on my 1960 Duke
University doctoral dissertation, "A History of the American
Mercury under the Editorship of Henry Mencken, 1924-
1933," I am vastly indebted to my director, Dr. Clarence
Gohdes, and to Dr. Lionel Stevenson, Dr. John Alden, Dr.

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