COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE. Autograph manuscript (unsigned) from his novel The Water Witch, no date [ca.1830]. 1 full page, 4to, light spotting, a small hole repaired (affecting 1 word text). On the blank verso, the text is identified in Cooper's hand in pencil: "Vol 2, p 66-7-8, Water Witch, 1830." A fragment from the novel, with several deletions and corrections in the author's hand, entirely in dialogue between an unnamed man and woman. They discuss the skies and sunsets on two different continents, where "western [American] sunsets [may] rival, but do not resemble [Italy's]. America must be content to pride herself on ...Nature's beauty, in a new, though scarcely in a less pleasing form..." The Bay of Naples is compared to Manhattan harbor and its "many rivers, the double outlet, the numberless basins, and the unequalled facilities..." Four other pages from Cooper's manuscript are in the Huntington Library.