Beschreibung:

Title: Autograph Letter signed by Robert Louis Stevenson to his father and mother Author: Stevenson, Robert Louis Place: Wick, Scotland Publisher: Date: Wednesday, Sept. 1868 Description: 8 pages. In ink. On two 4-page conjugate notesheets. 18x11.5 cm (7x4½"). With custom folding silk-covered chemise and morocco slipcase. Exceptional letter to his parents from the 17-year-old Robert Louis Stevenson who has been sent to watch the harbor works at Anstruther and Wick to prepare for his profession as an engineer and designer of lighthouses, following in his father's footsteps. The somewhat reluctant engineering student writes in a lively and expressive fashion, foreshadowing his future profession. The first two pages of the letter are to his father, and describe the destruction of the quay at Anstruther and the effects of a storm at Wick. In part" "I was awfully sorry about Anstruther. It was that confounded Billowness - hearting - so much sand, french chalk coagulated with water! It is the very last stuff to put for hearting at any rate, for it will crush to bits... I am glad the sea wall stood; but I quake for it tonight: the wond is up again and the sea; the men could do nothing today..." He then turns to his mother, and discusses matters of a more social nature, "Mrs. Wemyss (Sir George Dunbar's niece and house keeperess) asked me on Monday to go to Adkergill tower... It is a delightful old house with a green room and a red room, the spectre of a black cook who fell into a well-hole and the ghost of an interesting young lady who flung herself off the top of the tower, because she had been abduced or abducted or whatever it is, and kept in durance vile by its amiable possessor..." Lot Amendments Condition: Some staining, but legible throughout; neat repairs along folds; very good. Item number: 266909