Letter of Kahlil Gibran (Unknown Recipients, Undated)

Letter of Kahlil Gibran to Carolus Verhulst, 10 May 1927

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In 1921, Carolus Verhulst (1900-1985), at that time 21 years old, founded the bookstore/publishing company Servire in The Hague, NL. The name Servire is an allusion to Verhulst's wish that his publishing company would be subservient to humanity. About 1928, he married Elisabeth Duif (1901-1971). Together with his wife, he managed the publishing company until her decease.
Verhulst wanted to run a company which published esoteric and philosophic works. The '20's were not suited for such a policy. As a result, the Servire catalogue had a general nature and contained works on various fields such as art, the Dutch East Indies, esotery, history, nature, novels, philosophy and travelling.
Verhulst was a convinced pacifist. In the early '20's, he was one of the first Dutchmen who resisted draft. This resulted in imprisonment. In the years which preceded World War II, he also published idealistic and pacifistic literature and leaflets.
The publication shortly before the invasion by the Germans in the Netherlands of A.M. Meerloo's Homo militans - de psychologie van oorlog, ziekte en vrede in de mens, in which national-socialism was forcefully condemned, resulted in a conflict between Verhulst and the Germans. They forbade him to publish; he once was threatened with death. With the help of others, he could lay hand on paper and managed to publish. As a security measure, his authors and translators often used a pseudonym.
After the war, Verhulst resumed his publishing activities. From 1967, Servire publishers was seated in Wassenaar, adjacent to The Hague, at the Zijdeweg 5a. In 1976, Verhulst ended his work at Servire publishers. In November 1976, he founded an esoteric/philosophical publishing company, named Mirananda, a company which since 2004 carries the name Synthese. The name Mirananda, a contraction of Mira and Ananda, means: beatitude in love, and shines light upon Verhulst's ideas and ideals.
For many years, Servire publishers remained an independent company. In 1981, Felix Erkelens became in charge of the company. Under his management, Servire publishers became entirely devoted to the publishing of esoteric literature. In April 1999, Servire publishers became part of Veen publishers, Utrecht, NL.

Letter of Kahlil Gibran to Elizabeth McCausland, Nov. 5, 1928.
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Elizabeth McCausland (1899–1965) was an American art critic, historian and writer.

Letter of Kahlil Gibran to Isaac Horowitz, 10 July 1928 (2nd page)
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Boston, 10 July 1928 My dear Mr. Horowitz, Thank you […] for sending me a copy of the preface which you have written for your translation of The Prophet. It is indeed beautiful, and it is most generous. […] [I]t is good and refreshing to find you and Henri Bergson agreeing on the most important manifestations of life and self. I am delighted to know that you are interested in that which is deeper than intellect. […] I would suggest […] your sending a copy of the ‘preface’ to my publishers. […] The Knopfs would be interested because they are bringing out my book Jesus [the Son of Man] early in October, and, naturally, they would know all the kindly things said of one of their authors, and they would tell you where to place your extremely understanding piece. Of course you will tell my publishers of your translation, and also of its possible publication abroad. It was most kind of you to send me the photograph of the actors who read The Prophet at Freedom Hill. I know in my heart that each and every one of you visited for an hour the dear city of our deeper desires, the distant city of Orphalese. I am delighted to know that you are coming to settle in New York; and I shall be most happy to know you personally. With kindest regards believe me. Faithfully yours Kahlil Gibran P.S. Mr. Campbell of Alfred A. Knopf may be the most informative. Write to him if you care to do so.

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Isaac Horowitz (July 23, 1893-March 21, 1961) was born in Yefureni, Romania. He lived in Jassy until 1909 and then emigrated to the United States. He worked in a sweatshop and simultaneously studied. From 1912 he was publishing poetry in Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Forverts (Forward), Di vokh (The week), Di feder (The pen), Di tsvayg (The branch), and Kinder-zhurnal (Children’s magazine)—all in New York. He edited: Di fraye muze (The free muse) in 1913, the monthly Der vegetaryer (The vegetarian) in 1916, and Di vegetarishe velt (The vegetarian world) in 1921—all in New York. He contributed to the journal Der naturist un vegetaryer (The naturist and vegetarian) (New York, 1920). In the 1920s he moved to Los Angeles, where he brought out the journal Der mayrev (The West). Among his books: Vegn moyshe nadir, kritishe polemik (On Moyshe Nadir, a critical polemic) (Brooklyn: Aleyn, 1919), 32 pp.; Dos kol fun di shtume (“The voice of the dumb”) (New York: Aleyn, 1920), 95 pp. Concerning vegetarianism: Ven der lerer iz nishto (When there is no teacher) (Vilna: Naye yidishe folkshul, 1928), 16 pp.; Parnose-gever, un ven der lerer iz nishto (The breadwinner, and When there is no teacher), a one-act play (New York, Workmen’s Circle, 1929), 15 pp.; Teg un nekht mit panait istrati (Days and nights with Panait Istrati) (New York, 1940), 172 pp.; Mayn tatns kretshme (My father’s shop) (New York: Matones, 1953), 220 pp. He translated Khalil Gibran’s Der novi (The Prophet) (Warsaw-New York, 1929), 96 pp. He used the pseudonyms: Danilo, Veritas, and A. H-ts. He died in New York.

Letter of Kahlil Gibran to Leah Lewinson, Boston, Oct. 16, 1925

Letter of Kahlil Gibran to Lucy Skidmore Scribner, New York, March 25, 1928.

"March 25 1928.
My dear Mrs. Scribner, I regret very much that I shall not be able to dine with you on Thursday April the Twelfth. Had I not already made another engagement, for that same evening, nothing could have given me a greater pleasure. You are indeed most gracious to ask me and I grateful to you. Cordially yours Kahlil Gibran.”

The recipient, Lucy Skidmore Scribner (1853-1931), was married John Blair Scribner (1850-1879). The couple resided at 21 East 48th Street in New York for their marriage. In 1879, after just 4 years of marriage, Lucy was widowed when her husband died of pneumonia. In 1903, she created “The Young Women’s Industrial Club” in Saratoga Springs, New York, and in 1911, the club was renamed the “Skidmore School of Arts” and chartered as a college to vocationally and professionally train young women. In 1922, the school became a four-year, degree-granting institution for women and was renamed “Skidmore College.”

Letter of Kahlil Gibran to Marie Louise Watters (Boston Aug. 28 1927)

"Good morning to you, dear Marie Lousie, and many blessings upon you. I have before me now a kindly number of your letters, and I feel quite rich. You see, I went to the country for a while, and while I was there no letters were forwarded to me. Everybody thinks that I must try and get out of the world as though I have never been in it. And they say that I am not well enough to do anything but lie on my back and be still. They are all stupid! I like the little photographs in your last letter very much. They make you seem quite dashing! The hair is infinitely better and, of course, more becoming. No doubt that at the end of October 'your tresses, like molten gold, falling from heaven to the earth,' will [be] a pleasant sight to the gods of this world--and the gods of other worlds. I am glad you still like the drawing. Who knows, I may make a better one next winter! And if I should do so, you would want it- and I will not give it to you- and that's that!!! Always your faithful Kahlil Boston Aug. 28 1927."

Letter of Kahlil Gibran To Mary Haskell, May 26, 1916

Lettere a Mayy di Gibràn Khalìl Gibràn, versione dall'arabo di Maria Amalia De Luca, prefazione di Andrea Borruso, "Quaderni del Mediterraneo", 2, 1981, pp. 29–127.

Letters from Charlotte Teller to Ameen Rihani 1910-1912c (33 letters) 

Source: Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies/Ameen Rihani Organization

Letters of Kahlil Gibran to Archbishop Antonious Bashir
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Gibran’s letters to Archbishop Antonious Bashir were unknown and unpublished until November 11, 2004 when they appeared in the original Arabic in Al-Mulhaq, the weekly literary supplement for the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar. According to An-Nahar, these letters remained hidden among the archives of the Greek Orthodox Diocese in North America. It appears that Archbishop Philip Saliba was one day searching in the old files of his predecessor, Antonious Bashir, when he accidentally found these letters. Bashir was the translator of The Prophet into Arabic. The Lebanese newspaper adds that these letters acquire great importance as they constitute, on the one hand, a dialogue between the author and his translator, and on the other hand, they form part of Gibran’s great literary heritage of which many hidden treasures have not yet been discovered.

Lidia Gualdoni, "Gibran, poeta mistico che dipingeva la pace", Stilos, IX, 12, Jun 12, 2007, p. 20 (interview).

Ligue pour la liberation de la Syrie et du Liban (Chronique Syrienne), "Correspondance d'Orient", 11-10-1917, pp. 283-284. 

Linda K. Jacobs, "Rabitah: Poets in the Park", Aqlam, issue 8, January 2023, pp. 68-69.  Linda K. Jacobs, "Rabitah: Poets in the Park", Aqlam, issue 8, January 2023, pp. 68-69.  

Ma Wara’ al-Rida’ [Short Story],  al-`Alamah ibn Khaldun [Drawing], al-Funun 2, no. 4 (September 1916), pp. 289-291; 355 [digitized by the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA].

Madeline Mason-Manheim, Hill Fragments, with a Preface by Arthur Symons and Five Drawings by Kahlil Gibran, London: Cecil Palmer, 1925 [inscribed by the Author].

Marco Beck, "Alla ricerca del vero volto dello scrittore e artista libanese Kahlil Gibran, sotto la maschera del 'profeta'", Il Chiosco, Mar 25, 2014, p. 6 (review)

Marco Beck, Quei bravi ragazzi della piccola terra dei cedri, "L'Osservatore Romano", Mar 3, 2010, p. 5 (review)

Marco Roncalli, "Il Gibran pittore: Auguste Rodin lo paragonò a William Blake", L’Eco di Bergamo, Jun 3, 2007, p. 31 (review) 

Marco Roncalli, "Il giovane Kahlil Gibran e la musica", «Avvenire», Apr 11, 2023, p. 20.

Marco Roncalli, "In Italia è Medici il profeta di Gibran", Corriere della Sera (Bergamo), May 13, 2012, p. 12 (interview).

Marco Roncalli, "In Libano, nell’eremo di Gibran", Jun 23, 2017, p. 11.

Marco Roncalli, "L’altro volto di Gibran", Avvenire, Aug 25, 2007, p. 23 (review)

Marco Roncalli, "Poesie e primavere arabe", Corriere della Sera, Mar 6, 2014, p. 11 

Marguerite Mooers Marshall, Set Womankind Free and There'll Be no War, Says Oriental Painter, Born on Mt. Lebanon, The Evening World, Saturday, December 12, 1914, p. 8.

Maria Amalia De Luca, Lazarus and His Beloved e the Blind: due drammi postumi di K. Gibran, "Rasa'il - in memoria di Umberto Rizzitano", Palermo: Centro Culturale Al-Farabi - Sezione di Studi Arabo-Islamici, Marzo 1983 pp. 195-214.

Maria Amalia De Luca, Le lettere di Gibràn a Mayy Ziyàdah, "Oriente Moderno", LX, 1980, pp. 123–131.

Maria Lebedeva Swanson, The Russian Influence on the Literary and Critical Writings of Mikhail Naimy, The University of Arizona, 2014.

Maria Paola Porcelli, "Gibran, «Il Profeta» dell’Oriente amava le piramidi di New York", La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Nov 20, 2005, p. 25 (review)

Maria Paola Porcelli, "Gibran,in scena mistica orientale", La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Mar 7, 2003, p. 22 (interview)