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WRIGHT, FRANK LLOYD. Important Typed Letter Signed, in full, to J. D. Larkin, seeking a loan of $20,000 to pay for his Wasmuth portfolio, to remodel

WRIGHT, FRANK LLOYD. Important Typed Letter Signed, in full, to J. D. Larkin, seeking a loan of $20,000 to pay for his Wasmuth portfolio, to remodel his Oak Park studio and to pay off a creditor (Francis Little) who had a lien on his Japanese print collection. 3 pages, folded 8vo sheet; minor staple holes and staining. With a carbon copy of Larkin's reply to Wright declining to give him a loan. Np, 21 October 1910

  • Notes: "You will think it strange that in an extremity I should turn to you - I cannot tell you why, either, unless it is the kindliness and nobility of spirit I found in you when I worked for you. I do not wish to shirk responsibility for my acts. I am deeply sensible of the suffering I have caused and want to set things right as near as such things can be set right. There is danger now of a great loss and waste for want of necessary means. To save the situation and set it on its feet, I must raise some money on my property and print collection... When the payments are made I am the owner of one thousand copies of the monograph to be sold at $37.50 per copy in America. There is little doubt but that it will bring me $20,000 inside of eighteen months... I have hope that in a short time I will be able to again resume my practice, or will have built up another one... I need, like many another, no doubt, financial capital at this crucial moment in my life and affairs. I have no friends strong enough to do this for me if they would..."
    See Meryle Secrest's biography of Wright, page 207, for a discussion of this letter and Wright's tactic of asking for the loan from Larkin (which he knew would be denied) as a ploy to get financial backing from Darwin Martin.

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