On the Occasion of Charles Henri’s Birthday

On the Occasion of Charles Henri’s Birthday

Today, February 10^th, is the birthday of Charles Henri Ford. He would be 108 if he was still here, and he’d probably like that. On this occasion, I thought it might be nice to publish a short letter he wrote to Gertrude Stein on this date in 1930. 

144 MacDougal Street

New York City

Feb 10, 1930

Dear Miss Stein,

L’adorable c’est ici. for number 8.

More beautiful, so are things complicated.

heart tremblings in n.y. So are paris.

So are stein

so blues

so what the hell.

Ford

The building in which Charles wrote this letter, at 144 MacDougal Street, no longer exists—it was replaced by an NYU law library—but once it was a print shop where Anais Nin printed her first three books. The number 8 in Charles’s little letter refers to the 8^th issue of his magazine, Blues, to which Gertrude Stein made contributions. 

I get letters regularly from scholars asking about Charles, and about what he did and what he knew. The interest in him has not lessened. If anything, it just keeps growing.

Happy Birthday, Charles. You live on through your marvelous influence.

Charles Henri Ford. Chania, Crete, Greece. 1980.
Photo By Indra Tamang

Indra Tamang

02/10/16

copyright © Indra Tamang 2016, all rights reserved.