Kenneth Roberts – The Unofficial Site

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been running this site for three and a half years now; not only has it been a joy getting to do something that Kenneth Roberts fans have found needed, but I’ve also enjoyed getting to meet new people who share in the common interest of keeping alive the appreciation for Kenneth Roberts and his works.  One benefit of meeting fellow Kenneth Roberts enthusiasts is getting to hear stories or see items that would otherwise go unnoticed, which leads me into another new series for this site – Kenneth Roberts Memorabilia.

The purpose of this series is simple: to share the pictures of artifacts that Kenneth Roberts enthusiasts have collected over the years.  Today’s artifact is an envelope addressed to Kenneth Roberts from Tracey Levasseur.  I’ll let her introduce this artifact:

Here’s a very strange story…: last year I was at a friend’s house looking over a stamp collection her father had left her before he passed away in 1967.  It was a hodge podge of stamp albums,
shoeboxes, envelopes, etc and contained everything from stamps to wedding invitations to empty envelopes addressed to other people. As I was pulling these items one by one out of a shoebox my eyes fell upon an addressed envelope that made my hair stand on end. It was addressed to Kenneth Roberts… from a London publishing company. Unfortunately the letter
inside had been lost to time but the simple fact that it was addressed to Roberts and he no doubt opened and replied to it, I had to have it. My friend gave it to me after I’d gone through and appraised the collection, which I thought was nice. What are the odds that I’m going to find this envelope in a stamp collection that had been sitting in my friends closet
for 45 years. Her father had no relationship with Roberts, had not lived in Kennebunk ever, how did he come to acquire this and why did it happen that I stumbled upon it [?]

Here are two images of the said envelope:

An envelope addressed to Kenneth Roberts ca. 1939. Courtesy Tracey Levasseur.

Photo courtesy Tracey Levasseur.

Here’s what Tracey says of the envelope:

The envelope came from Curtis Brown Ltd in London. This was and still is a literary agency which in its early days represented European authors in the US. However after WWI they started representing American authors in Europe. This envelope is postmarked 1939 which I suspect was a correspondence to Roberts regarding representing him in Europe. The address is his Kennebunkport address, which is Rocky Pastures as he would have moved into this house by 1939.

A great piece of history of one of America’s greatest authors.  Much thanks to Tracey for sharing with us!

Filed under: K.R. Memorabilia | Tagged: Curtis Brown Ltd, K.R. Memorabilia, Tracey Levasseur |