Our Growing Collections

KENNETH A. LOHF
 

Dannay gift. Messrs. Richard and Douglas Dannay have established
a collection of papers of their father, Frederic Dannay, the noted
mystery writer, editor, critic of crime fiction, and coauthor with
Manfred B. Lee ofthe well-known series of mystery novels and sto¬
ries featuring the detective, Ellery Queen. Among the more than
twenty-five thousand items, spanning the period from the late
1920s to the early 1980s, are extensive files of Frederic Dannay's
correspondence, outlines and drafts, autograph and typewritten
manuscripts, and letters of agreement and contracts, which trace a
remarkable writing and editing career that was largely responsible
for giving the detective story a respectable place in serious writing.
A number of manuscripts, most of which are heavily corrected by
the coauthors, are present in the gift, including that of The Roman
Hat Mystery, the only surviving manuscript of the first Ellery
Queen novel; and the notes, outlines, and corrected holograph and
typewritten manuscripts of The Origin of Evil, The King is Dead, The
Scarlet Letters, Inspector Queen's Own Case, and A Fine and Private
Place, the last of the Queen novels, among numerous other fiction
and nonfiction works. Especially significant in the Dannays' gift are
the extensive files documenting the editing and publication of Ellery
Queen's Mystery Magazine from its first appearance in the fall of
1941 to the early 1980s. The Dannay papers also include manu¬
scripts sent to Dannay by numerous notable novelists and mystery
writers, such as Agatha Christie, William Faulkner, Dashiell Ham-
mett, Ross MacDonald, and Cornell Woolrich.

Dzierbicki gift. Mr. Ronald L. Dzierbicki has presented a further
group of first editions and association books in memory of Margue¬
rite A. Cohn, among which the following may be singled out for
special mention: Benjamin Disraeli, Endymion,  London,   1880,
 

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