The Project Gutenberg eBook of Du Bose Heyward: A Critical and Biographical Sketch This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Du Bose Heyward: A Critical and Biographical Sketch Author: Hervey Allen Release date: August 24, 2021 [eBook #66132] Language: English Credits: Al Haines *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DU BOSE HEYWARD: A CRITICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH *** DU BOSE HEYWARD _A Critical and Biographical Sketch_ By HERVEY ALLEN INCLUDING CONTEMPORARY ESTIMATES OF HIS WORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY NEW YORK _Publishers_ TORONTO BIBLIOGRAPHY _Du Bose Heyward_ CAROLINA CHANSONS (with Hervey Allen), 1922 SKYLINES AND HORIZONS, 1924 PORGY, 1925 ANGEL, 1926 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA "_his unforgettable characters move . . . in a lavish, yet reticent, magnificence of highly organized prose._" --NEW YORK TIMES. Du BOSE HEYWARD _A Critical and Biographical Sketch_ By HERVEY ALLEN There was a fashion amongst a certain school of critics and _literati_ of former years to go about the country with dark lanterns ready to flash their microscopic spot lights upon this or that author, as he emerged for a brief moment from the great North American obscurity, and to proclaim that he had or certainly would or could write the great American novel. It was then the custom to say that in poem or story he had caught the essential verities of the great universal American type. For a while the little spotlights would play hopefully upon someone, and then be turned elsewhere. At last, like the gentleman from Athens who searched with a lantern for another equally mythical person, the critics, who were looking for the great American novelist and his novel, passed away with the hope which animated them, and were seen and heard no more. Through the 1890's and 1900's the steam-roller of an industrial democracy continued its leveling and standardizing processes which few outstanding literary personalities were able to resist. Then the American writers and critics at large, especially since the World War, may be said to have suddenly realized, indeed to have discovered, two startling but paradoxical facts, _i.e._, that at last there was a typical and very standard American type, but that he or she was not altogether a desirable person, and secondly and by contrast, that the country was not just one level, usual United States, but in reality a union of many different localities with varying backgrounds, traditions, and philosophies. Out of these provincial cultures might be expected to come the variants from the standardized types, variants whose differences were not only picturesquely or quaintly interesting, but of essential human value. It is on these two themes, either that of standardization or of sectional difference in character, that the major utterance of creative literature in America during the past decade or so has busied itself both in poetry and prose. Mr. Sinclair Lewis may be said to have achieved the characterization par excellence of the standardized America in _Main Street_ and _Babbit_. Of the studies of sectional and provincial types there have been many poor and a few fine ones in prose. In poetry, Robert Frost and Edwin Arlington Robinson have been most distinguished in dealing with New England. In the drama Eugene O'Neil has frequently found his finest _métier_ in the provincial. Peculiarly tempting, to those artists who have desired to present the more extreme provincial types of character, has been the wide field of the South, "Uncle Sam's Other Country", where the feudal tradition of the plantation, the isolated Mountain Whites, or the realm of the negro have successively, but not always successfully, engaged various pens. A host of names in this connection might be quoted both of authors and of titles, many of which would be familiar. In the last few years, the negro, owing largely to the fact that his emigration in large numbers northward has suddenly called him to the attention of our metropolitan writers--who now find that he is a reality in their midst instead of a romantic myth or a minstrel character--the negro thus, has become the preoccupation of innumerable writers in prose and poetry, but more especially in music. It is no exaggeration to say, and not a derogation for the purpose of argument to admit, that in the final analysis most of those who have essayed the task of depicting provincial conditions in the South, involving the essentially differing peculiarities of minor Southern localities where the plantation, industrialism, the negro, and the Mountain White are all factors--it is we repeat, no derogation to say that for the most part those who have attempted to handle these themes in a major literary way have fallen short of the mark. This situation has largely arisen from the fact that only those who were natives of the South could understand the genuine realities of the conditions they undertook to depict. Yet there was another complication, those who were born in the South by the traditions of their birthright were often inhibited from assuming an attitude toward their own section, one that is necessary to project a work of art. This attitude may be described as that of the "intimately-detached". Such was very largely the condition of present day American letters in regard to matters "South" when in 1925 Mr. Du Bose Heyward of Charleston, S.C., contributed his comment on the negro. The scene of the story is laid in one of the oldest plantation communities on the continent slowly melting from its former outlines in the crucible of "progress". The Book _Porgy_* (the "g" is hard as in "gate") may be said to have combined or expanded the highly wrought technique of the best type of realistic dramatic short story with the more ponderable bulk of the novel, and from the standpoint of diction to have attained with a natural felicity all the dignity and beauty of a highly-wrought style. Its early appearance was greeted with acclaim, and the first glow of enthusiasm was sustained and enhanced by the more judicious and pondered praise of careful critics. _Porgy_, indeed is the first American novel about the American negro which depicts him faithfully, as he exists in a particular place, and yet presents him as a purely artistic but faithfully realistic study of a phase of human life. Mr. Heyward and his first novel were thus a nice example of a particular environment producing an artist peculiarly capable of exploiting the intriguing differences of his province in universal terms. * "Porgy", the name given to Mr. Heyward's hero by the colored fishermen who lived in and about Cat-fish Row and plied their trade by sailing out of Charleston harbor to the black-fish banks, is the local name for black-fish, hence the derivation of the nickname. The author was born and raised in Charleston, S.C. He first saw the light in August, 1885, inheriting from a long line of Revolutionary and Colonial ancestry the essential American traditions and the philosophy of aristocratic planters nurtured upon almost feudal plantations. In the late 1880's and throughout the 1890's the South as a whole, particularly the "Carolina Low Country" about Charleston, was still in the throes of the aftermath of Reconstruction. Mr. Heyward's family, like thousands of others, had lost their property as a result of the Civil War, and he was from the first forced to confront not only an extreme private poverty but the then all but hopeless economic condition of his section. At an early age he became the sole support of his widowed mother and struggled manfully and hopefully against "a sea of troubles". Yet there was a fortunate side to all this, one then difficult to see, but present nevertheless. The very difficulties of the place into which he had been born forced the future chronicler of its charms and grotesqueness into an intimate contact with the life of the locality, and permitted him to drink it in through understanding eyes. The aftermath of the Civil War had put a premium upon living for being rather than living for possession. One did not of necessity appear in the latest fashions in Charleston ball rooms, yet the balls and the traditions of the society which they represented went on. The old city continued in her old ways. To a visitor it seemed as if time had been arrested. Mr. Heyward was intimately familiar with it all. The place, indeed, became a part of him, yet it did not too entirely possess him. Summers were spent in the mountains of North Carolina, where he first came into contact with the "People of the Hills." There was a brief interlude of painting about Tryon, N.C., in a "cove" of the Appalachian ranges that catches the breath of spring before any of the others. The lessons of the brush were afterward remembered by the pen. Then there was a season spent in the far West recuperating from an illness. This was shortly before the World War. Mr. Heyward's "bit" was done in South Carolina in organizing war work among the negroes of his section in coöperation with certain gentlemen of Charleston who were chosen for their knowledge and tact. It was an interesting, a valuable, and a vital experience. In the meanwhile, there were a few short stones. The pen had been found. It was not quite sure yet what it had to say, but some of the methods of publishing and the way to an audience had at least become plain. The present writer remembers first meeting Mr. Heyward only a few months after the Armistice. He came into the room one day, naming a mutual literary acquaintance and a common interest in writing as the occasion for the call. He brought with him as his first impression an unusual sense of ease and virile-sensitiveness--an impression that remained. About the hospitable fire of one who was rich in the lore of the past, literary experience, and living, we continued to meet. The result of the association was an arrangement to collaborate on a book of poems in which it was agreed to treat some of the legends and the landscapes about Charleston from various points of view. Mr. Heyward's literary interest was at that time mainly in verse and the result was the publication the following year of _Carolina Chansons_. During the same year while the poems were underway, through the able assistance of many friends, there was organized in Charleston the _Poetry Society of South Carolina_. This in a certain sense proved to be the spark that kindled the now widely spread interest in modern poetry in the South. Requests for advice and assistance poured into the little "poetry office" at Charleston, and Mr. Heyward in particular, although he was then conducting an active business in the city, found himself called upon for lectures, readings and literary consultations throughout the South. It was in this way, as a poet, that his name first became generally known. In the meanwhile, he had been dividing his summer vacations between his own studio-cabin in the North Carolina Mountains and the MacDowell Colony at Peterborough, N.H. Under the combined inspiration of North and South Carolina landscapes and the facilities for undisturbed writing provided by the MacDowell Colony, his first book was followed about a year later by another volume of poems dealing most notably with the mountains of North Carolina and the Low Country of South Carolina. It was therefore entitled _Skylines and Horizons_. His poems had been appearing here and there in magazines and it was rapidly becoming evident that Mr. Heyward's real life work lay in the realms of literature. The flair toward letters was considerably strengthened in 1923 by his marriage to Dorothy Hartzell Kuhns, a professional playwright, and it was not long afterwards that he definitely severed all active business connections and retired to write _Porgy_ in the vicinity of the Big Smokies in North Carolina, where he owns a small "farm." The manuscript of _Porgy_ was put into its final form at the MacDowell Colony and published in the fall of 1925. Coincident with the appearance of his first novel, Mr. Heyward made a lecture tour through all but the far western states. Mr. Heyward's third book and first novel, _Porgy_, which has already been alluded to, is based on some of the actual adventures in the life of a real negro who was, until within a very short time, a familiar figure about the streets of Charleston. Porgy was a beggar. He had lost both legs and drove about in a little cart only a few inches high, behind an olfactorily memorable goat. There was no more grotesque, or picturesque figure in America, and his history, as Mr. Heyward soon learned, did not belie his appearance. About the story of this colored cripple, who had played an important role in the life of old Cat-Fish Row, a venerable and incredible negro tenement along the Charleston water-front, Mr. Heyward wove his plot. It was more than a fine narrative. It was the actual life of the colored race, seen through clear eyes, and enacted in genuine dialect on a stage magnificently set. As for the setting in which it takes place, only those who have seen for themselves the real background of the book will be able fully to appreciate the fine restraint with which the artist has gained his effects. Perhaps the most significant thing about the book and its author was the fact that, for the first time, certainly in this generation, a novel had been written about the character of an American negro which was at once true to life and a work of art. Mr. Heyward did not regard his material from any standpoint except that of the literary artist. He did not pity, patronize, suggest, assume the white man's burden, or try to add to or lighten that of the colored man. In other words, in _Porgy_, the author was Du Bose Heyward, writer, reporting a cross section of human life Ethiopian, in English prose. There was no moral propaganda whatever. Mr. Heyward does not offer his solution of the "negro problem," nor any scheme to do away with hurricanes, of which last, by the way, in _Porgy_ there is the most memorable description of one written by an American since Gertrude Atherton's _Conqueror_. The storm in _Porgy_ is a synthesis of several which the author witnessed in Charleston, notably the great hurricane of 1911. In _Skylines and Horizons_ he had already treated the theme most successfully in verse. _Porgy_ will very shortly appear in moving pictures, and a dramatic version upon which the author and his wife have collaborated will also shortly appear in New York on the legitimate stage. For the past year or so Mr. Heyward has been dividing his time between Charleston and his farm in the North Carolina mountains near Hendersonville while he has been steadily at work upon his second novel, _Angel_. _Angel_ also treats of a Southern scene, but this time Mr. Heyward has chosen as the _locale_ of his plot the mountains, and for his heroine one "Angel," a daughter of the "People of the Hills." Through long residence and association, the author is thoroughly familiar with his material, and it is to be expected that in _Angel_, he will give us a novel of the Poor Whites of the mountains that will complement his fine and nationally significant story of the Negro of the Low Country. HERVEY ALLEN *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DU BOSE HEYWARD: A CRITICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. START: FULL LICENSE THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. 1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge with others. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country other than the United States. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed: This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided that: • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works. • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work. • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. 1.F. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility: www.gutenberg.org. This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.