“The Tools of My Trade”: Annotated Books in Jack London’s Library by David Mike Hamilton (review)

Reviews 61 From the 340 letters, written between 1937 and 1959, selected by MacShane for publication, we can see that the British-educated midwesterner perceived southern California with the detachment, clarity, and skepticism of a princely, if often snobbish, exile, traits that are stylized and Actively reinvented in the figure of Marlowe. The letters also reveal Chandler’s lifelong interest in American English and his determination to create a new art form, using a language “sharp, swift, and racy.” “All I’m looking for is an excuse for certain experiments in dra­ matic dialogue.” In 1957 he could justifiably boast that he may have written “the most beautiful American vernacular that has ever been written.” It is this concern with the literary possibilities of an American vernacular that links Chandler, surprisingly, with Mark Twain. One is also struck with the greater personal frankness of the later letters, particularly those written to Helga Greene, his last literary agent, heir, and, after the death of his wife in 1954, beloved. MacShane’s edition is to be commended for its informative introduction, its helpful identification of correspondents, and its complete index. ERNEST FONTANA Xavier University “The Tools of My Trade”: Annotated Books in Jack London’s Library. By David Mike Hamilton. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986. 340 pages, $25.00.) “The Tools of My Trade” is a good book that attempts to answer the questions of how Jack London came to write his books, the ideas that inspired him, and where he found his themes, plots, characters; in short, to answer the question of how London performed his writer’scraft. London was the quintessential self-made man. With very little schooling, he became an omnivorous reader and eventually collected a working library of more than fifteen thousand volumes. It is obvious today that London read these books, for they are marked, underlined, marginally annotated, and bear all the other indications of being read. We are fortunate that today this entire library, together with much of London’s notes and correspondence are pre­ served in the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California. David Mike Hamilton is the former curator of literary manuscripts at the Hunting­ ton, which has given him ample opportunity over the past ten years to work in the London archives, which were closed to the public for many years. In this well-researched study of London’s library, the author examines in detail some four hundred books that London read, annotated and quoted, admittedly a small sample of the fifteen thousand total, but a critical sample nevertheless. Disclosed here are the sources for The Call of the Wild (for which a manuscript copy does not exist), The Star-Rover, The Mutiny of the 62 Western American Literature Elsinore, and The Scorn of Women, as well as London’s short-story classic, “To Build a Fire.” While essentially a bibliography, the entire book makes for fascinating reading, and the author provides an enlightening introductory essay about London’s lifetime reading habits and other interesting facts about the writer’s “modus operandi.” With a lifelong background of familiarity with London, this reviewer has found little (other than minor typographical errors) to criticize about the book. This book is an excellent contribution to the London story; it tells us a great deal about the man, and all London scholars and collectors will want the book in their collections. GEORGE H. TWENEY Seattle, Washington Jack London’s California: The Golden Poppy and Other Writings. Edited by Sal Noto. (New York: Beaufort Books, 1986. 156 pages, $16.95.) With a Heart Full of Love: Jack London’s Presentation Inscriptions to the Women in His Life. Edited by Sal Noto. (Berkeley: Twowindows Press, 1986. 103 pages, $75.00.) “I realize that much of California’s romance is passing away,” Jack London told a Sacramento reporter in 1910, “and I intend to see to it that I, at least, shall preserve as much of that romance as is possible for me.” That romance, enhanced by other notable elements, is clearly evident in Noto’s gathering of London’s California writings, which include, besides the title essay, excerpts from three novels (Martin Eden, The Valley of...