Letter by CJD to James Tyrrell 1915.06.02

107 Burke Road
Camberwell
June 2/15

Dear Mr Tyrrell,

I am sorry your letter arrived just a few days too late - so far as the "Sentimental Bloke" is concerned. I had signed an agreement with Angus & Robertson only a day or two previously.

However, I have one or two other schemes on hand that I shall be glad to discuss with you.

For instance, I have already, almost ready, in preparation:
A Book of Short Stories
A Book of Verse
A Book of Australian Fables & Fairy Tales
A Book of the Bush with Illustrations by Hal Gye
A Book of Illustrated Nonsense Verse

If you would care to look at any of these let me know. If you are not one of those publishers who consider short stories unsaleable I could let you see these right away.

Give my kind regards to Archie & Beau when you see them. Also, please tell Mr. Archibald that I very much regret that I did not meet him when I was in Sydney.

I have a fancy that your combination is likely to evolve the sort of publisher that Australia and Australian authors have been looking for.

If at any time you are coming to Melbourne let me know. There are many things I would like to talk over with you.

Thanks for book received this morning.

Yours truly,
C.J. Dennis

McLaren Collection - Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne.

Note:
James Tyrrell joined Angus & Robertson in 1888 and progressed to the position of manager before leaving to start his own bookshop in 1905. After a period in Adelaide he returned to Sydney in 1914 where he started the publisher Tyrrells Ltd in partnership with J.F. Archibald - who is probably the "Mr. Archibald" referred to in the letter. J.F. Archibald co-founded the Bulletin, and his estate led to the foundation of the Archibald Prize - the most famous prize for portraiture in Australian art.
This letter contains the only list, I have found, of the books mentioned. None of these were ever published, with the possible exception of "A Book of Illustrated Nonsense Verse" which may have been transformed into "A Book for Kids".
Archie is most probably A.E. (Archibald Edward) Martin and Beau is probably Beaumont Smith who both worked with Dennis on The Gadfly in Adelaide.

James Tyrrell put forward his view of this interchange in his autobiography: "Reading the Sentimental Bloke verses as they appeared in the Bulletin, I wrote to Dennis indicating that I would like to publish them as a book for him. I missed out - but only just! He wrote saying that he had submitted them to Angus and Robertson, and had just had a letter of acceptance when my letter to him arrived. He expressed regret, but mentioned other things he had in mind for later on." - Old Books, Old Friends, Old Sydney" by James R. Tyrrell, published by Angus and Robertson 1987, p158.