The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 54, July 1950 - April, 1951 Page: 62

ife, Cibert , arld the Pursuit of
rexiaa
HERBERT FLETCHER
ET me interrupt myself to answer a question propounded
by Stanley Banks of San Antonio. It is front page stuff
and you should all have the benefit of the answer right
from the horse's mouth. The name of my firm is the Anson Jones
Press. The Jones is very important because in Houston, for credit
purposes, I have allowed the rumor to be spread that Mr. Jesse
Jones was my junior partner.
Dr. Steen's request brings up a very delicate matter.
All speeches and papers delivered at these meetings, you may
have suspected, like rare books, exist in more than one state. I
use the word state in a bibliographical sense, indicating a stage
in its evolution.
First you are invited to speak and are given a general subject.
Then you outline this and tentatively submit it to the office of
the Association. There it is so roughly handled that you rewrite
it. Then, when you finally get to the rostrum, you deliver a
different version to suit the situation at the moment. The middle
state is printed in the Quarterly if it is a good paper.
Historical nomenclature provides classifications for some of
these stages, like B.c. and A.D., meaning before Bailey Carroll
and After Deletion. Only geniuses like Maury Maverick escape
this treatment, but you will have noticed that Dr. Webb washed
his hands of him in advance. Best thing, by the way, that can
happen to any speaker is to talk after Maury Maverick.
*EDITOR's NOTE: On Saturday, April 29, 1950, Herbert Fletcher was the informal
speaker at a luncheon meeting of the Association. Dr. Ralph Steen, the chairman,
referred to Dr. Eugene C. Barker's observations, made Thursday night, that book
collectors were often pernicious and sometimes not quite sane and suggested that
Mr. Fletcher comment on this. Just before the talk the question had been raised
in the table conversation whether Mr. Fletcher headed the "Anson Press" or the
"Anson Jones Press." Several members of the Publication Committee insisted that
the address be published, but in fairness to Mr. Fletcher it may be noted that it
is over his protest as he points out that the speech was intended to be "exclu-
sively oral and was quite dated."