My Dear Mr. Hopper
Elizabeth Thompson Colleary, editor
Yale University Press, 2013
5.8 x 7.5 inches, 104 pages

My Dear Mr. Hopper collects 58 previously unknown letters to Edward Hopper from Alta Hilsdale, elucidating a previously unknown romantic relationship in the reclusive artist’s life. The book includes an illustrated introductory essay as well as transcriptions of all the notes, with about 20 reproductions mixed in.

The petite format makes the book feel especially intimate. The reader gets lost in the minutiae of plans made, broken, and postponed until the final letters in which a depth of emotion emerges when Hilsdale breaks some news to Hopper. I won't spoil the surprise!