Lot Details
Lot 175
STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS A Martial Elegy for some Lead Soldiers.
[Samuel Lloyd Osborne, Davos Press]: Davos, Switzerland, likely Spring 1882. Small broadside of 18 lines, housed in a chemise and leather-backed slipcase. 6 7/8 x 5 1/8 inches (27.5 x 13 cm); single folded sheet, printed recto only, title, 18 lines, and "Price 1 penny (1st Edition)" at foot. Some dogearing, separations on the central fold, minor dust-staining and a spot of foxing. Six words show ink corrections of the poor impression, likely in Stevenson's hand.
A very rare Stevenson desideratum, one of the works that Prideaux, in his bibliography of Stevenson, lists in Part II "Juvenilia, Toy-Books and Nugae." Printed by the son of Fanny Stevenson, with whom Robert Louis shared an enthusiasm for lead soldiers and amateur printing, this charming ephemeral piece is extremely rare. The last copy we note at auction was in 1952 at Parke-Bernet, and similarly had several indistinct words corrected in autograph. Prideaux II, 15.
C The Library of Duncan Cranford
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