Framed Two Page 1931 Handwritten Letter from George Santayana to Louis Sachs, a Young Man Dispensing with Advice

Rome, 1931. Framed. Fine. A letter of discouragement about writing poetry addressed to an unknown young man with the last name of Sachs. Exposed, on each side of frame, is 16.5 by 13 stationary sheet. With matting and black and brown streaked frame, 33 by 29.5 cm. The letter reads: "Dear Mr. Sachs, You are very young, I suppose, and I understand your enthusiasm at first conceiving nature naturalist [sic] really: I felt it myself at what I suppose to be your age, on first stuyding Spinoza and Lucretius. But the general view is old and familiar: The interest lies entirely in the particular colour and illustrations which each new philosopher or poet may give to it. A system has the value of the perceptions and emotions which a man may put into it. The bare outline of naturalism or pantheism -- though true, I think, as far as it goes -- is nothing but the stretched canvass on which he must point his picture. [paragraph] But why do you attempt verse? Le me advise you warmly to stick to prose. Yours sincerely, G. Santayana.