AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT (AM)

[London], n.d. [1902]. Letter. Faint fold from mailing; some staining. Still Near Fine. Two-page AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT on Harte's 109, Lancaster Gate, W. stationery (8-7/8" x 9-1/8"), not signed but completely in Harte's hand, consisting of 6 four-line stanzas on two integral pages. Titled "Scotch Lines to A. S. B./From an Unintelligent Foreigner," the poem is written in a humorous attempt in Scottish dialect and is Harte's reply to some jesting stanzas in the vernacular written by Harte's friend and frequent correspondent, British artist Alexander Stuart Boyd. A sampling: "We've heard na mon say 'gowd' for 'gold,'/And yet wi all our tongues up-curled,/We (truncated) -- like the British drum-beat-rolled/Our 'Rs' round half the speaking worrrld./How like true Scots we didna care...." This poem was first published in HARPER'S MONTHLY in October 1902 and in book form in T. Edgar Pemberton's 1903 THE LIFE OF BRET HARTE where he states, "Once more, as many of his stories show, he took his tone from his surroundings, and Scotland has a prominent place in many of his writings. He was interested in all he saw there, and in a wonderfully short time achieved a mastery of the rather difficult Scottish dialect. This is nowhere better shown than in some burlesque rhymes he sent to his artist friend, Mr. Alexander Stuart Boyd.... Of this little achievement, written in sheer high spirits, Bret Harte was inclined to be proud." Pemberton goes on to say that he never told Harte about the similarities between a few lines in the poem and some dialogue from Charles Dickens' DAVID COPPERFIELD "(for Dickens-lover though he was, he had clearly forgotten the circumstance)." There are a few minor changes from the published version.

Alexander Stuart Boyd illustrated several books by Harte including A PROTEGEE Of JACK HAMLIN'S. (Inventory #: 020595)