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Literature
Handwritten poems in Danish and French by the beloved fairy tale author
411. Hans Christian Andersen Autograph Manuscript Signed. Beloved Danish author (1805–1875) best known for
such classic fairy tales as The Ugly Duckling, The Red Shoes, and The Emperor’s New Clothes. Fantastic autograph poems in Danish and French, one page, 13 x 10.25, signed at the conclusion, “Souvenir de H. C. Andersen, Paris 26 April 1843.” Andersen pens four bilingual stanzas of one of his poems, headed “Le Soldat” on the French side. In very good to fine condition, with a trimmed left edge, some small edge tears, and reinforcement on the back of the separated central vertical fold. An impressive handwritten piece from the famed writer, whose literary manuscripts are very rare in the autograph market. Starting Bid $500
412. Andre Breton Autograph Letter
Signed. French writer and poet (1896–1966) best known as the founder of Surrealism. ALS in French, one page both sides, 5.25 x 8.25, December 21, 1933. Handwritten letter by Andre Breton, addressed to writer Rene Laporte, where he tries to mediate a conflict between Laporte and the poet Gui Rosey. In part (translated): “[For all] that may be paradoxical and distressing in the idea of a poet exercising retaliation over another poet.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope addressed in Breton’s hand. Starting Bid $200
Capote writes to a newspaper columnist about In Cold Blood and the Breakfast at Tiffany’s film
413. Truman Capote Autograph Letter Signed. ALS signed “Truman,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.5 x 8.5, October 16, 1961. Handwritten letter to newspaper columnist Leonard Lyons, in part: “So: you came to Spain, and did not come to visit, or forewarn in any way?! Actually, I don’t blame you; it’s a very dull place, this, and my life is among the dullest of all. However, my book is something more than half done—by the way, whoever told you that the title was ‘Your Day Ends At 2 PM’ was very misinformed. The title is: ‘In Cold Blood.’ Slim sent me the reviews of the “Breakfast-” film; they seemed rather good. Did you see it? I have to go again to Kansas sometime this winter (in connection with the book) and so will be a few days in New York—and will, I hope, at least get a glimpse of you.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Capote’s hand, incorporating his surname (“Capote”) in the return address on the flap. A remarkable letter referring to both his most famous titles. Starting Bid $200
414. Philip K. Dick Typed Letter
Signed. TLS signed “Love, Phil,” who adds a heart with arrow, three pages, 8.5 x 11, January 11, 1981. Lengthy, detailed letter to science fiction author Patricia Warrick, in part: “I was studying the ending of the Fourth Gospel... and I came across some strange notes in my Jerusalem Bible...The side of Jesus on the cross when pierced by the sword of the Roman soldier flows then with the blood and water. The notes say that the blood signifies that indeed the Lamb has been sacrificed; the water symbolizes the Spirit and shows that there is a steady flow of grace from the sacrificed Christ.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope. Starting Bid $200
Hand-addressed envelope panel by the Russian master of the short story
415. Anton Chekhov Handwritten Envelope Panel. Esteemed Russian playwright and short-story writer (1860–1904). Exceedingly rare address panel from the front of a mailing envelope, 5.25 x 3.25, addressed in Anton Chekhov’s hand to Captain Alexander Ivanovitch of the 22nd East Siberian Front Regiment, 10th Company, with an affixed postage stamp and two postal cancellations, one dated April 13, 1904. Affixed to a slightly larger card and in very good condition, with a few tears and rough edges. Accompanied by a letter in French by his wife, signed “Olga Tchekhova Knipper,” sending her correspondent the front panel from her husband’s envelope, explaining that it was sent by Chekhov from the Crimea, in the south of Russia, while he was serving in the Manchurian Army in the war against Japan in 1904; on the reverse of the second page, she pens a translation of the address written by her husband. Starting Bid $300
Magnificent 1876 Elliott & Fry portrait of “R. Waldo Emerson”
416. Ralph Waldo Emerson Signed Photograph. Scarce sepia-tone 2.5 x 4 carte-de-visite portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson with a book in a handsome seated pose, signed neatly on the reverse in ink, “R. Waldo Emerson, 3 July, ‘76.” Published by Elliott & Fry of London. In fine condition. On June 28, 1876, Emerson found himself the honored guest at the University of Virginia, where he lectured on ‘The Natural and Permanent Functions of the Scholar.’ Emerson and his daughter returned to Concord, Massachusetts, on either the 1st of 2nd of July. Starting Bid $200
signed “Bill,” one page, 8.25 x 5.25, no date. Handwritten telegram by William Faulkner to Hollywood director Howard Hawks, in full: “Booked NY 19 April unless I hear from you. Of course will stay here on call or meet you at need if notified.” Along the bottom, he writes: “William Faulkner, Hotel de Beaujolais, Paris.” In fine condition. Faulkner contributed to the screenplay for the adaptation of Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not in 1944, as well as The Big Sleep in 1946—both classic films directed by Howard Hawks. Starting Bid $200
Fitzgerald to his Princeton roommate on Zelda, money, writing, and his great novel: “The strain under which Tender was written…caused defeat, ergo overwork, ergo nerves, drink & a whole vicious cycle”
418. F. Scott Fitzgerald Autograph Letter Signed. Remarkable ALS in pencil, signed “Ever Your Friend, Scott,” two pages, 8.5 x 13, no date. Letter to John [Biggs], a lifelong friend of Fitzgerald’s and his roommate while at Princeton. In small part: “About coming to Wilmington—since I’ve been well enough to move about I have my invalid in Carolina, my mother in a Washington hospital & a daughter here finishing her school year...On the financial side I don’t think I can be reformed. I have good resiliency when the health is all right & a great deal of this sickness was due to the strain under which Tender was written. The strain caused defeat, ergo overwork, ergo nerves, drink & a whole vicious cycle that led eventually to hurting heart & lungs. I was well last fall after two months rest but there was again debt & it started all over again. If you can solve that one you’ve got me.
It’s not true what you say about public institutions and I know. They’re all right in hopeless cases, certainly they’re better than little say private clinics, but in case like Zelda’s, who’s as sane as you and me part of time it would be the end of hope and struggle. I had a moment of discouragement last fall when my own health failed again & I wrote those Esquire articles—but that moment has passed.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, some light wrinkles and creases, and tape remnants to reverse top edges of both pages. Starting Bid $1000
Fitzgerald’s defense of Tender Is the Night: “The novel does really deal with deep dark matters, screaming girls tied to the railroad tracks”
419. F. Scott Fitzgerald Typed Letter Signed. TLS, two pages, 8.5 x 11, February 8, 1934. Letter to Mrs. Arthur J. Harris, responding to William Rose Benet’s review of the first two serialized installments of Tender Is the Night. In part: “I am getting some responses from the book from writers but I am still pretty much alone with it and I’m grateful. I had not seen the Benet article but I located it immediately—I was rather surprised because Benet has usually been pleasant about my stuff. Something tells me he did not finish the second installment or he’d have seen that the novel does really deal with deep dark matters, screaming girls tied to the railroad tracks...I have a few corrections, but I am rushed for time because publication was begun on an unrevised manuscript and I have had to do my revisions in a hand to mouth fashion.” In fine condition, with a repaired tear to the left side of the first page. Starting Bid $300
Lengthy 36-page handwritten manuscript by the prolific frontier author
420. Zane Grey Autograph Manuscript Signed. Lengthy AMS in pencil, signed
at the head, “Zane Grey,” 36 pages (numbered 1–30 and 38–43, but appears complete), 7.75 x 12.5, no date. Grey’s lengthy handwritten manuscript for an evidently unpublished piece entitled “The Greatest Man I Ever Knew.” The piece begins: “His name was Jim Smett. He was a Mormon. He had been born in a covered wagon crossing the plains, and all of his life had been lived in the desert. He told me that five nights out of every seven he had slept out, on the sand and the rocks, or under the pines. No wonder he was great.” In fine condition. A fantastic and unusually long manuscript from the wellknown author, whose tales of the American West have captivated readers for over a century. Starting Bid $200
Insightful letter from Key West to a protege: Hemingway fixes up Pilar amid preparations to serialize Green Hills of Africa in Scribner’s Magazine
page, 8.5 x 11, February 26, 1935. Letter to friend and protege Arnold Samuelson, in part: “I am waiting for Gingrich to send me the Mss. money to send you. He has been haveing [sic] a big success with his book...Bread is doing marvellously on the boat; gotten her clean; gotten rid of the roaches entirely; put on the new pump (works fine) taken off the manifold and gotten it in order so she runs cool as a breeze; put in a new exhaust pipe; cleaned out engine room and bilge and painted engines. She is running smooth and pretty and haveing [sic] a real pump makes a hell of a difference....Scribners is going to serialize my new book starting in the May number. Everybody is fine here and sends best regards. I will send you that mss. fund jack the day I get it...We’ve been having good luck fishing; good stream and lots of fish in it.” In fine condition, with light soiling. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope. Starting Bid $300
422. Ernest Hemingway Signed Check. The First National Bank of Boston check, 6.25 x 2.75, filled out and signed by Hemingway, “Ernest M. Hemingway,” payable to “Portador” [or carrier] for $200, November 1, 1949. Endorsed on the reverse in black ink by Roberto Herrera. In fine condition, with a couple of small stains. Herrera was Hemingway’s close friend, part-time secretary, and brother of his Cuban doctor; he frequently accompanied the writer on his exploits aboard the famous fishing boat Pilar. Starting Bid $200
423. Ernest Hemingway Book. Desirable unsigned book:
The Old Man and the Sea. First edition, first printing (with “A” and Scribner’s seal on copyright page); in original dust jacket (with $3.00 price intact). NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952. Hardcover with dust jacket, 5.75 x 8.25, 140 pages. Book condition: VG/ VG, with an ownership inscription to first free end page, creasing to the jacket’s front flap, and light wear and small tears to the jacket’s spine ends. A definitive piece of the American literary canon. Starting Bid $200
“I’m not exactly blissful,” writes Kafka in the year of The Metamorphosis
424. Franz Kafka Autograph Letter Signed.
ALS in German, signed “Franz,” written in pencil on the reverse of a 5.5 x 3.5 postcard from the Cafe Kaiserhaus in Halberstadt, Germany, postmarked July 7, 1912. Letter to friend and biographer Max Brod, in full (translated): “This first morning greeting to your office. Don’t take it too hard. I’m not exactly blissful, in spite of this incredibly old city. I am sitting on a balcony above a fish market and twining my legs to wring the fatigue out of them.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $2500
425. Jack Kerouac Signed Check. Person-
al check, 6 x 2.75, filled out and signed by Kerouac, “John L. Kerouac,” payable to Scudder-Taylor Oil Co. for $15.45, December 13, 1967, annotated on the reverse in Kerouac’s hand: “For Furnace valve at 20 Bristol House.” In fine condition. Kerouac lived at 20 Bristol Ave. in Hyannis from 1966 to 1967. Starting Bid $200
O. Henry re-writes a sloppy story: “The title will come with the last installment— it has to be made from the complete story”
426. O. Henry Autograph Letter Signed. Short story writer born William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) known for his use of the surprise ending. Uncommon ALS signed “Sydney Porter,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.75 x 9.5, no date. Handwritten letter to “Col. Griffith,” in full: “Keep your shirt on. I found I had to re-write the story when it came in. I am sending you part of it just so you will have something tangible to remind you that you can’t measure the water from the Pierian Spring in spoonfuls. I’ve got the story in much better form; & I’ll have the rest of it ready this evening.” He adds a handwritten postscript, initialed “S.P.,” in full: “The title will come with the last installment—it has to be made from the complete story.” In very good to fine condition, with creasing, light toning and staining, and splitting to the top of the hinge. Starting Bid $200
On staging The Hairy Ape in France: “It is either liked very much—or not liked at all”
427. Eugene O’Neill Autograph Letter Signed. ALS, one page both sides, 5.75 x 4.75, Le Plessis letterhead, September 19, [no year]. Letter to “Mr. Bourgeois,” in part: “Since the agreement between us for ‘The Hairy Ape’ translation was made stronger…all royalty payments should be made to them for me and cannot be made directly to me…I certainly hope with you that ‘The Ape’ may succeed and make some money. All I meant was that it is the sort of play, as results elsewhere have proved, that is a big gamble as far as reaching any wide public is concerned. It is either liked very much—or not liked at all.” In fine condition, with a central vertical fold. Starting Bid $200
428. Ayn Rand Typed Letter Signed. TLS, one page, 7.25
x 10.5, personal letterhead, January 13, 1950. Letter to Edgar Carter of the H. N. Swanson Agency, in part: “I am enclosing a photostat of my motion picture contract for the rights to Night of January 16th. As you will note the rights were sold to RKO who later sold them to Paramount. Would you look up the radio and television rights clauses...I would like to offer this play for radio or television performances.” In fine condition. Starting Bid $200
Artistic collection from The Little Prince scribe
429. Antoine de SaintExupery Lot of (3) Items.
Three items related to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: a New Edition of Terre des Hommes, published by Gallimard [Paris] in 1941, 5 x 7.75, 218 pages, signed and inscribed on the half-title page in ink, “Pour Blaise Gautier Saint Denis, en tres amical souvenir, Antoine de Saint Exupéry.” Autographic condition: fine, with uniform toning and mild staining to signed page. Book condition: VG/None, with uniform toning to textblock, creasing to spine, and some creasing and staining to wrappers.
Also included: a graphite sketch ostensibly accomplished by Saint-Exupéry on an off-white 4 x 6 sheet, unsigned, which depicts the profile of a bald man with his eyes closed, his visage closely resembling that of the businessman from Saint-Exupéry’s classic novella The Little Prince; and an original pastel portrait of Marie-Madeleine de Saint-Exupéry, the older sister of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, accomplished by an unknown artist on 9.75 x 10.75 artist board, with the upper right entitled in blue paint, “M. de St. Exupery.” The reverse of board is likewise annotated in red ink, “Portrait de…sœur de Antoine de St. Exupéry, Marie…College du Mans…1914.” The painting is framed to an overall size of 13.75 x 14.5. In overall fine condition. Starting Bid $300
Rare Jekyll and Hyde–era portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson
430. Robert Louis Stevenson Signed Photograph. Ex-
emplary 4.25 x 6.5 cabinet photo of Robert Louis Stevenson in a three-quarter-length pose by W. J. Hawker of Bournemouth, neatly signed on the mount in ink, “Robert Louis Stevenson.” In very good to fine condition, with a hint of subtle silvering, a small surface bump near the top edge, and a circular postal impression to the left of Stevenson’s image. Just the second signed photograph of Stevenson that we have offered, this marvelous portrait dates to circa 1886, when Stevenson was living in coastal Bournemouth, England, and writing the tale of Jekyll and Hyde. A superlative literary piece. Starting Bid $500
Stowe quotes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin
431. Harriet Beecher Stowe Autograph Quotation Signed. AQS on an
off-white 4.5 x 7 sheet, signed at the bottom in ink, “H. B. Stowe, Andover, Feb. 19, 1858.” Handwritten quote from the Bible, as used in her important book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In full: “The grass withereth—the flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand forever.” In fine condition, with some faint toning from prior display.
Stowe uses this passage from Isaiah 40:8 as the title of Chapter 22 in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ‘The Grass Withereth—the Flower Fadeth.’ Autograph quotes from Stowe pre-dating the Civil War are scarce, and this example—evoking Uncle Tom’s Cabin and penned in the same decade as its publication—is truly superb. Starting Bid $200
Accepting an invitation from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau agrees to lecture on his Cape Cod excursions
432. Henry David Thoreau Autograph Letter Signed. ALS signed “Henry D. Thoreau,” one page, 7.75 x 9.75, February 8, 1850. Handwritten letter to Charles Northend, written from Concord. In full: “I am informed by Mr. Emerson that you invite me through him to read a lecture on Cape Cod before your Lyceum on Monday the 18th. I will do so if you do not inform me of a different arrangement before that time. P.S. The illegibility of my MSSs is mainly owing to a steel pen to which I am unused.” In fine condition, with small old tape stains to the corners.
On February 6th, Ralph Waldo Emerson had written to Thoreau on behalf of Charles Northend, requesting that he give a lecture on his travels in Cape Cod at the South Danvers Lyceum. Thoreau accepted the offer—$10 plus travel expenses—and delivered the talk on February 18th. In a preface to the lecture, which was a combination of three he had prepared on his Cape Cod sojourns, he excused any apparent disjointedness: ‘I purpose to read this evening as many extracts as the time will permit from a long account of a visit to Cape Cod made last October, particularly those parts relating two Nauset beach. As I had already condensed three lectures into two, and I am now invited to roll those two into one so as to give some sort of connected account of my journey, you can imagine how unconnected and incomplete this lecture may be.’ Thoreau would later compile the stories of these excursions in his 1865 work Cape Cod. With great references to Emerson and his famous Cape Cod trips, this is an ideal handwritten letter by Thoreau. Starting Bid $1000
433. H. G. Wells Signed and Hand-Corrected Proof. Hand-corrected proof
by H. G. Wells for his article “The Great Community,” a book review of The Great Society: A Psychological Analysis by Graham Wallas, which was published in The Nation on July 11, 1914. The proof, one page, 5.5 x 24.5, contains numerous corrections in ink and pencil, with approximately 60 words in Wells’s own hand, with the largest portion appearing at the bottom: “There could be no better demonstration of just how the organized thought of Mr. Wallas falls short of the conception.” Signed in the upper border in black ink by Wells. In fine condition, with multiple horizontal folds. Starting Bid $200
434. Thomas Wolfe Signed Book. Signed
book: Of Time and the River. Fifth printing. NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935. Hardcover with dust jacket, 6 x 8.5, 912 pages. Signed and inscribed on the front free end page, “For Elaine Clouse, Sincerely, Thomas Wolfe, June 13, 1938.” Autographic condition: fine, with some professional restoration present (to remove ink blotting) but all writing original. Book condition: VG/VG, with a touch of edge wear and a few small tears to jacket, loose front hinge, and subtle, even toning to interior. The consignor notes that Clouse was a Portland schoolteacher and avid admirer of Wolfe. The writer had departed New York City in late May 1938, arriving in Portland on June 7th and beginning an auto tour of national parks on June 20th. He passed away on September 15th. Starting Bid $200
