Description
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), a British
author best known for his novel
Brave New World, immigrated to
the United States in 1937, where he remained until his death. He began working with Jacob
Zeitlin shortly after coming to the US, and corresponded with him over many years. The
collection deals primarily with the writing career of Aldous Huxley, including writing
samples in the form of pamphlets, reviews of his utopian novel
Island (1962), and correspondence between Zeitlin and Huxley from
1937-1961.
Background
Jacob Zeitlin (1902-1987) moved to Los Angeles from Wisconsin via Texas in 1925, and began
his career as a bookseller shortly thereafter. He owned a number of different shops through
the years but is best remembered in the Pennsylvania Dutch-style building on La Cienega
Boulevard often referred to as "the red barn." He and Josephine ver Brugge (1915-2005)
married in 1939. Josephine, originally from Kansas, graduated from Park University in
Missouri. Jacob died in his West Hollywood home following heart bypass surgery in 1987.
Josephine died of respiratory failure at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center in 2005.