Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Sipper, Ralph B.
- Abstract:
- The Sipper mss., 1973-2010, consists of the correspondence and business records of Ralph Bruno Sipper, 1932-, an antiquarian bookseller specializing in modern first editions.
- Extent:
- 20 Boxes
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
[Item], Sipper mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
Ralph Bruno Sipper, 1932-, of Santa Barbara, California, is one of the leading antiquarian booksellers in America specializing in modern first editions. In 1970 Sipper founded Joseph the Provider/Books in San Francisco and from that time issued sales catalogues of modern first editions that went to institutional and private collectors. He also exhibited at book fairs, appraised collections, and represented archives that were acquired by university libraries. In 1996 the Joseph the Provider Corporation was dissolved and Sipper continued selling books under his own name.
- Scope and Content:
Correspondents include: Eric Ambler, Donald Barthelme, Samuel Beckett, Thomas Berger, Kay Boyle, Bill Bradley, Matthew Bruccoli, Charles Bukowski, Carter Burden, Even Connell, Jerome Cheryn, Robert Coover, William Oliver Everson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Giselle Freund, William Gaddis, Allen Ginsberg, William Golding, James Laughlin, Norman Mailer, John McPhee, William Meredith, Kenneth Millar, Dmitri Nabokov, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Parker, Lawrence Clark Powell, Julian Symons, John Updike, Diane Wakoski, Eudora Welty, and Calder Willingham.
Also present are published book reviews and critical essays composed by Sipper over five decades.
Additionally there are materials pertaining to Inward Journey, a 1984 collection of memorial essays about crime fiction novelist Ross Macdonald (pen-name of Kenneth Millar, 1915-1983), edited by Ralph B. Sipper. Materials include correspondence, contract agreements, original manuscripts, galleys, photographs, congratulatory letters, and reviews. Correspondents include: Kingsley Amis; Samuel Beckett; Kay Boyle; Ray Bradbury; Raymond Carver; Don DeLillo; John Fowles; Dick Francis; David Hare; John Le Carre; Ursula LeGuin; John D. MacDonald; Norman Mailer; Alice Munro; Robert Parker; Walker Percy; Paul Theroux; and John Updike.
- Acquisition information:
- Acquired: 1997, 2007-2010
- Processing information:
Processed by Craig Simpson.
- Physical location:
- ALF (Auxiliary Library Facility); Lilly - Stacks
Indexed Terms
- Subjects:
- Booksellers and bookselling --California.
Booksellers and bookselling - Names:
- Sipper, Ralph B.
Sipper, Ralph B. --Correspondence.
Ambler, Eric, 1909-1998 --Correspondence.
Buckley, Christopher, 1948- --Correspondence.
Coover, Robert --Correspondence.
Doctorow, E. L., 1931-2015 --Correspondence.
Updike, John --Correspondence.
Easton, Robert Olney --Correspondence.
Wakoski, Diane --Correspondence.
Everson, William, 1912-1994 --Correspondence.
Gaddis, William, 1922-1998 --Correspondence.
Gallagher, Tess --Correspondence.
Ginsberg, Allen, 1926-1997 --Correspondence.
Gold, Herbert, 1924- --Correspondence.
Jackson, Laura (Riding), 1901-1991 --Correspondence.
Laughlin, James, 1914-1997 --Correspondence.
Mailer, Norman --Correspondence.
Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938- --Correspondence.
Welty, Eudora, 1909-2001 --Correspondence.
Nabokov, Dmitri --Correspondence.
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
This collection is open for research.
Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[Item], Sipper mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
1200 East Seventh StreetBloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
(812) 855-2452liblilly@indiana.edu