Haven O’More
Correction to note 26 in “W. B. Yeats’s Mosada (1886)”

Erratum 

Correction to note 26 of my article ‘W.B.Yeats’s Mosada (1886)’ published in Yeats Annual 20, ed. Warwick Gould (2016), p. 256, When writing it, I was unaware of Roger E. Stoddard’s defence that had appeared in April 2011 issue of The Book Collector, pp. 647-48, and I repeated Nicholas Basbanes’ less than flattering account that had appeared in his A Gentle Madness (1995), without researching further. My sincerest apologies to his widow, Rahel.

What’s in a name? For instance: Haven O’More. In the make-believe world of entertainment we are not surprised to learn that a performer has changed his or her name in an attempt to better represent a role as singer or dancer, actor or magician. Haven O’More would often challenge a stranger with ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ It turns out – belatedly – that only he could have answered the question.
Richard Haven Moore was born in Austin, Texas, on 6 December 1929, first child of William Haven Francis Moore, ‘Preacher + Teacher of Bible’, and Daphne Mae Crook, ‘Wife + Mother’. Richard served two stints in the US Army, from the first of which he was honourably discharged on 24 March 1947 as a private with service decorations: ‘Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal (Germany)’. By 5 May 1949 he was back in uniform, discharged 16 June 1951 as a second lieutenant, ‘Infantry Unit Commander’ with service decorations: ‘Occ Med (Japan), Combat Inf Badge, Korean Sv Med (Served in Korea from 9 Sep 50 to 31 May 51)’. By letter dated 5 July 1951 from General Headquarters, Far East Command, he was awarded the Purple Heart (First Bronze Oak-leaf Cluster) on 30 May 1951.
On 14 January 1974 Richard Haven Moore changed his name to Haven O’More by decree of the Probate Court of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. (Haven would say that it was an ancient name in his family.) Within five years Haven’s sumptuous collecting activity ensured that the international world of book dealers, collectors and auction houses knew his name: he earned a starring role in ‘To Have and to Have Not’, the sixth chapter of A Gentle Madness (1995), the classic exposé of modem American bibliophily by Nicholas Basbanes. His library was The Garden Ltd., his foundation the Institute of Traditional Science, his publishing house SADEV. He made contributions to the publications of the Aperture Foundation and to the Blake Trust. He supported the Friends of the Harvard College Library. (As its secretary I was bemused to meet the greatest Cambridge book collector since the Revd William Inglis Morse, 1874-1952, specialist in Canadiana and a major benefactor of the Harvard Library, and Professor Robert Lee Wolff, 1915-1980, specialist in Victorian three-volume novels, whose collection was purchased by the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin.) Haven hosted a dinner party preceding the formal opening of our Goethe exhibition in 1982 and he lent his September testament to the Luther exhibition in 1983.
Haven’s plan to build a research library on Garden Street in Cambridge was dashed by the zoning commission – it was thought that Haven was a straw for Harvard, but the coup de grace occurred in 1989 with the case of Davis vs O’More, which revealed apparently that Haven’s activities had been funded by Michael Davis, who had decided to sell out. That required the sale of land on Garden Street, but more devastatingly the sale of The Garden Ltd (Sotheby’s, 9/10 November 1989).
Haven O’More’s beloved wife Lorea died in 1997, and he wrote and published privately a poem in her memory (Lorea: an elegy, 1998). He suffered a debilitating fall, but in 1997 he married Rahel Green, who survives him. He died in his Cambridge house on 15 August 2008 of coronary artery disease. Rahel says that he was deeply hurt by the misrepresentation of his army service by Mr Basbanes, she holds the originals that support the statements reported here, and she hopes that Mr Basbanes will make amends. These notes are offered for old time’s sake,

Roger E. Stoddard

Richard Haven Moore (Haven O’More): born Austin, Texas, 6 December 1929; died Cambridge, Massachusetts, 15 August 2008.

Reproduced by kind permission of Roger E. Stoddard, and The Book Collector.