Autographs & Manuscripts
The Lofer War. Being an account of a long & obstinate war, Carried on between the Huddartites & the Lofers, together with some account of that extraordinary People. Compiled by Herman Confucius from fragments found among the papers of the late Peter Confucius, & from the notes of Oroondates Mauran Jr., & a correspondent.
[Hellgate, East River, New York, circa 1835.], A remarkable holograph manuscript by New York writer and man of letters Charles Astor Bristed (1820-1874), written when he was a teenager and under the supervision and care of his famous grandfather, John Jacob Astor - many years prior to his first published.....
Holograph note signed and dated Tunbridge Wells Nov. 10, 1812, to poet and writer Robert Pearse Gillies.
The antiquary, poet, and publisher of the Lee Priory Press, Egerton Brydges (1762-1837), writes to the Scottish poet, editor, and translator Robert Pearse Gillies (1788-1858) "to thank you very warmly for your last & to say that no man of feeling & taste can possibly see the high value of.....
Holograph letter signed and dated May 14, 1945 on his Big Sur stationery with his photographc portrait as part of the letterhead.
Big, Sur, California, May 14, 1945. Henry Miller responds to an inquiry from a young collector, Jack Aldridge, who is serving in the Army, and in the course of his letter makes an interesting confession: "Dear Lieutenant Jack! I wish I were good enough to make the sort of water.....
Original holograph letter signed and dated New York, Tuesday morning, March 19, 1851.
A letter from 21-year-old Julia White Peck (1829-1859) to her future mother-in-law, Mrs. Henry Marsh of St. Louis, Missouri. Julia was about to travel to Turkey to serve as a Christian missionary with her fiancé, Rev. Dwight Marsh, who was stationed in Mosul (then part of Turkey). Her knowledge of.....
![Book ID: 21846 Vida del Principe D[o]n Carlos, Espana Escrita por el Abad de...](/pictures/thumb/21846.jpg?v=1613418877)
Vida del Principe D[o]n Carlos, Espana Escrita por el Abad de S[a]n Real.
[N.p., n.d., circa 1750]. A fair copy manuscript of a Spanish translation of the famous French novel by César Vichard de Saint-Réal (1639-1692). First published in French in 1672, Don Carlos – a novella about the forbidden passion between Don Carlos, the son of Philip II of Spain, and his.....
Holograph manuscript, not signed, fair copy of a Scottish song, first line: "It's hame & it's hame & it's hame I wad be."
Circa 1820. Apparently not published in this form. ¶ A traditional Scottish song, a shorter version of which Scott included in The Fortunes of Nigel (1822), page 476. James Hogg also had a version of this song in his The Jacobite Relics of Scotland (1819-1821). Scott collected his own renderings.....
Holograph letter signed and dated Hartford, June 10, 1846, to Joseph John Gurney of Norwich, England.
¶ A letter of condolence to a friend in England written in Lydia Sigourney's exemplary penmanship, delivered for her by the diplomat, pacifist, and social activist Elihu Burritt, who Sigourney notes in her letter is "well known on both sides of the ocean as the 'learned blacksmith.'"
The Caged Eagle and Other Poems.
San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1916. First edition. BAL 18767; Mattila A12. A selection of Sterling's best poetry to date. Inscribed by Sterling on the front free endpaper to his wife, Carrie: "Dear Carrie: / Just a / few unnatural [?] sonnets. / George. / San Francisco, July 5, 1916.".....
Sails and Mirage and Other Poems.
San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1921. First edition. BAL 18797; Mattila A25. ¶ An early presentation copy: "For / Ida Brenda Gregg / these songs of California / and Dreamland, with / all good wishes. / George Sterling. / San Francisco, Dec. 6th, 1921." The earliest presentations copies noted in.....
East of the Giants: A Novel.
New York: Henry Holt, 1938. First edition. Baird & Greenwood, California Fiction, 2355. "A novel of California from 1837 to 1861 . . . unique among novels dealing with this period and setting in having a serious and philosophical point of view. Regional history is given considerable detail. Montery and.....
Psyche / or / The Legend of Love / — Castos docet et pios amores. / Martial [Manuscript title underscored with a double line, below which is the annotation in another hand:] “An Unpublished Poem by Mrs. H. Tighe.”
Fair copy manuscript, no place, circa 1806. There are six fair copy manuscripts of Psyche held in institutions that have been found: National Library of Wales, Morgan Library, Beinecke Library, two at the British Library (one incomplete), Wilson Library at North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and one is listed in OCLC.....
Two holograph letters and one note, signed and dated January 16, 1897, February 4, 1897 and January 5, 1912.
Camden, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1897-1912. The earliest letter is addressed "Dear Charlotte," and is personal correspondence on family affairs; the second letter, dated February 4, is to Richard Mansfield, the English actor-manager (1857-1907): "Dear Mr. Mansfield, I have the honor to be one of the executors of Walt.....
Manuscript poem entitled "O Conscious Heart . . . For Miss Eliza Mum" and signed N. P. Willis.
N.p., n.d., but circa 1826-30. Apparently unpublished. A poem by Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867) written when he was a young man and keen suitor, perhaps when he was a student at Yale (class of 1827) or soon after. Willis was well known for such occasional verses written to young ladies.....