Box 1

Scope and Contents These letters concern Huxley’s novel Island are addressed to L. Rust Hills, who was the fiction editor at Esquire magazine from 1956 until 1963. One letter, five pages, explains how Huxley’s house had recently been destroyed by fire. The letter also contains a summary of the novel’s plot and insights into the philosophies behind it. The other letter, a one-page note on blue air-mail paper, encourages L. Rust Hills to contact Mr. Cass Canfield at Harper Brothers for a manuscript of the novel....