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 ASTONISHING PSYCHIC EXPERIENCE

Being a True Account of How Alfred A. Knopf Appeared in a Vision to Clarence Day, Jr.

I have a friend who, when she hears a strange voice on the telephone, can visualize the person—that is to say, she sometimes can, if it interests her. She half-closes her eyes, tilts her head back, stares away off into space; and then she slowly describes the appearance of whoever is telephoning, almost as well as though he or she were standing before her. It is one of those supernatural gifts that seem to our times so startling.

The reason I mention this is, that though I hadn't supposed I was that sort of person, I had one of these mysterious psychic visions myself, years ago. It came to me while I was reading Mr. Knopf's first announcements of books. I had never seen the man, never heard a word of what he was like, yet his image suddenly arose clear as a photograph before my inner eye. There he stood, tall and thin, an elder states man, with a bushy white beard; round, glowing eyes, ivory skin; an animated savant.

He spoke in his circulars as a man of great taste and authority. I pictured him as a French Academician of American birth.

Year by year as I read his new catalogs this image grew stronger. People would ask me, "Have you met this man Knopf?" and I would say: "No, I haven't, but I can tell you what he's like just the same. I'm a bit of a 9