MILLER, Joaquin

Unpublished Autograph Manuscript: Alaskan. "Let There Be Light

First Edition. Hardcover. Folio (8-1/4" x 11-3/4") consisting of 53 pages numbered to 54 (one page contains two numbers) on lined yellow paper with a few additions at the end on white paper pasted to the yellow pages with a calligraphic title page facing a photographic reproduction of Miller. Bound in 3/4 maroon morocco leather and marbled boards housed in a slipcase of full burgundy morocco leather. Though some of the phrases, such as the title, are used in other of Miller's works, this long narrative poem appears to be unpublished. The poem begins: "In the morning of the world;/Ere the holy stars were born--/Early morning of the world;/O, that wondrous, wondrous morn!" We have at this point not read much else because our lives are short and Miller's handwriting is trying, but we are fairly confident that the text deals at least in part with the Alaskan Gold Rush of the 1890s as Miller visited the Klondike during that time returning to California after six months, exhausted from his adventures, with thousands of dollars of gold dust and $6,000 from a publisher for his Alaskan letters. Fine and rare, beautifully bound The "Poet of the Sierras," also known as the Buffalo Bill of American literature, Miller was indeed one of the more colorful authors of the late 19th century, known for fabricating many features of life. While still a boy he headed from Oregon to California during the early gold rush where he worked in a number of mining camps. He survived several battles with Indians as well as several altercations with the law. He earned his keep mostly from mining and the Pony Express before his writing sustained him.

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 017375

Catalogue: Original Manuscript

Keywords: Manuscript, Manuscripts, History, Alaska, California, 19th Century American Literature, Alaskan Gold Rush, Western Americana, 19th Century Literature 19th Century American Literature Literature: American Western Americana Alaskan Gold Rush

SINCLAIR, Upton

Typescript (Sinclair's Own Working Ribbon Copy) of Wide Is the Gate

[New York], [Viking Press], [1943]. First Edition. Manuscript. Complete text, 1034 pages continuously numbered with variations; numbered consecutively by chapters. Placed into three large binders. Sinclair's own working copy, apparently a second draft and first complete early copy to be located. Extensive pencil annotations by the author with thousands of corrections, deletions, and additions to the text, from single words to entire pages. Many revisions greatly differ from the published novel. For instance, at the end of the first paragraph after describing Lanny Budd's inner convictions--"..that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of Hosts"--Sinclair has added, then crossed out: "For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot." After a narrow defeat in a bitter campaign for the California governorship in 1934, Sinclair created Lanny Budd, "America's self-diagnosed schizophrenic liberal," the hero of the novels that came to reflect Sinclair's disillusionment and cynicism. This is the fourth in the series of eleven novels about Lanny Budd, the third--DRAGON'S TEETH--having won the Pulitzer Prize. Sinclair considered this series the most important part of his literary production, which also included, of course, THE JUNGLE. When reviewing the Budd series, Perry Miller declared that "the character of Lanny Budd is surely one of the most fabulous creations of our time. Possessing the insouciance of d'Artagnan, the penetration of Sherlock Holmes, the sartorial elegance of Beau Brummel, the gymnastic skill of the late Douglas Fairbanks, the ubiquity of Superman .. the sociological profundity of Herbert Spencer .. [and] the sexual prowess of a Casanova. Last page torn, not affecting text. Near Fine .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 014077

Catalogue: Original Manuscript

Keywords: Modern First Editions, Manuscript, Radical Literature, Upton Sinclair, Modern Firsts Modern First Editions Manuscript Literature: American Radical Literature