Details
STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS. Autograph manuscript signed, a draft of an answer to a criticism on The Silverado Squatters, La Solitude, Hyères, 15 December 1883. 1 page, small 4to, about 230 words in ink, with a few revisions, on lined light tan paper, signed in full at end, bottom edge slightly irregular, a vertical fold crease, brown half morocco slipcase.
STEVENSON ON DOGS
The manuscript (actually a draft of a letter for publication) in regard to a statement in The Silverado Squatters about a dog sweating, which was questioned. Stevenson writes: "In the sheets of a forthcoming book, I have had occasion to mention a dog who 'would be often wet with sweat,' under the influence of fear. A scientific friend informs me that this is commonly held to be impossible; and I remember myself to have heard...that a dog can only perspire on the tongue. As for the animal in question in my book, a spaniel crossed with setter, take this crucial instance: The first time he travelled by rail, sitting in a romantic flutter on a lady's lap, he became gradually wet from head to foot. I should be glad to learn if he was an exception, or if the common opinion is groundless..."
Stevenson goes on to discuss "the universal trick of burying bones" by dogs. He wonders if it "indicate[s] a rudimentary harvesting instinct; or [whether] it may be a habit acquired in servitude and a mere emulation of man. Recent observation of a small dog has led me to lean to the latter opinion; but your scientific readers will be able to answer the question upon which all depends: does the dog, in a state of nature, show any providential instinct? Robert Louis Stevenson..."
The Silverado Squatters is a book of "fourteen delightful essays resulting from the author's dwelling high on the side of Mt. St. Helena [in northern California] by the entrance to an abandoned silver mine" -- Zamorano 80, no. 71. The above manuscript is apparently unpublished.
Provenance: Autograph Letters, Original Manuscripts...from the Library of...Stevenson, Part I, Anderson Galleries, 23 November 1914, lot 332 -- Walter Chrysler, bookplate (sale, Parke-Bernet, 27 February 1952, lot 293).
STEVENSON ON DOGS
The manuscript (actually a draft of a letter for publication) in regard to a statement in The Silverado Squatters about a dog sweating, which was questioned. Stevenson writes: "In the sheets of a forthcoming book, I have had occasion to mention a dog who 'would be often wet with sweat,' under the influence of fear. A scientific friend informs me that this is commonly held to be impossible; and I remember myself to have heard...that a dog can only perspire on the tongue. As for the animal in question in my book, a spaniel crossed with setter, take this crucial instance: The first time he travelled by rail, sitting in a romantic flutter on a lady's lap, he became gradually wet from head to foot. I should be glad to learn if he was an exception, or if the common opinion is groundless..."
Stevenson goes on to discuss "the universal trick of burying bones" by dogs. He wonders if it "indicate[s] a rudimentary harvesting instinct; or [whether] it may be a habit acquired in servitude and a mere emulation of man. Recent observation of a small dog has led me to lean to the latter opinion; but your scientific readers will be able to answer the question upon which all depends: does the dog, in a state of nature, show any providential instinct? Robert Louis Stevenson..."
The Silverado Squatters is a book of "fourteen delightful essays resulting from the author's dwelling high on the side of Mt. St. Helena [in northern California] by the entrance to an abandoned silver mine" -- Zamorano 80, no. 71. The above manuscript is apparently unpublished.
Provenance: Autograph Letters, Original Manuscripts...from the Library of...Stevenson, Part I, Anderson Galleries, 23 November 1914, lot 332 -- Walter Chrysler, bookplate (sale, Parke-Bernet, 27 February 1952, lot 293).