Eighteen (18) Manuscript Poems; Original, Unidentified Verse in Period Penmanship
n.p. 1871 - c.1920. A modest and entertaining archive of eighteen manuscript poems from approximately the same number of different authors, based solely on handwriting style. Seventy-plus pages of original verse ranging from Victorian love, Love lost and found, and several with quite dark and gothic themes. Very few are dated and signed, and if so, only by a first name, their once private words still protected by the anonymity of time. Also included is one letter dated 1871 and one typed poem. All pages are in Very Good condition, with all having mailing fold creases, a few with foxing, light edge and fold wear. The contemporaneous verse shows remarkably little editing. All poems are sufficiently sublime to be published. Titles include: "The Sinner Invertation (sp)", "McAfee's Confesions (sp)", "The Ocean Buriel (sp)", "The Dying Californian", and the following refrain from the 120 line, rhyming, (abab) "The Polish Boy" Item #2712
"What hand is that whose icy press
Clings to the dead with death's own grasp,
But meets no answering caress
No thrilling fingers seek its clasp"
- The Polish Boy.
Price: $180.00