ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Signed Original Manuscript - Extremely Rare -

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ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Signed Original Manuscript - Extremely Rare -:
$5750.00

This is a magnificent, extremely rare original signed manuscript by internationally acclaimed author ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-1894), Scottish essayist, poet and author of fiction and travel books, known especially for his novels of adventure.

This extremely rare signed manuscript is entitled "A Prayer for Mind and Body" and is written in black ink by the author and signed at the lower right "Robert Louis Stevenson". It measures 3" x 6" and is in good condition aside from tape remains on the verso with toning in two areas. The text reads, in part: "Give us peace of mind in our day, O Lord, and a sufficiency of bodily comfort, that we be not tortured with changing friendships or opinions nor crucified by disease, but ever in strength, constancy and pleasantness, walk in a fair way before thy face in the sight of men, and if it please thee O Lord, take us soon in health of mind and human body into thy eternal rest. Robert Louis Stevenson." This item comes accompaniedby an old sale catalogue description listing it as lot 1191. Authenticity is GUARANTEED. Similar manuscripts by Stevenson sell at autograph dealers for $12,500. Please view my other sales and store for additional museum quality fine art and collectibles.

Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh as the son of Thomas Stevenson, joint-engineer to the Board of Northern Lighthouses. Since his childhood Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis. In 1867 he entered Edinburgh University to study engineering, but changed to law and in 1875 he was called to the Scottish bar. During these years his first works were published in The Edinburgh University Magazine (1871) and The Portfolio (1873). Instead of practicing law, Stevenson devoted himself to writing travel sketches, essays, and short stories for magazines. An account of his canoe tour of France and Belgium was published in 1878 as An Inland Voyage, and Travels With A Donkey In The Cervennes appeared next year. In 1879 Stevenson moved to California with Fanny Osbourne, whom he had met in France. They married in 1880, and after a brief stay at Calistoga, which was recorded in The Silverado Squatters (1883), they returned to Scotland, and then moved often in search of better climates. Stevenson became famous with the romantic adventure story Treasure Island, which appeared in 1883. Among his other popular works are Kidnapped (1886), The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1886) and The Master Of Ballantrae (1889). He also contributed to various periodicals, including The Cornhill Magazine and Longman's Magazine, where his best-known article "A Humble Remonstrance" was published in 1884. It was a reply to Henry James's 'The Art of Fiction' and started a lifelong friendship between the two authors. From the late 1880s Stevenson lived with his family in the South Seas, in Samoa. Fascinated by the Polynesian culture, Stevenson wrote several letters to The Times on the islanders' behalf and published novels like The Beach Of Falesa (1893) and The Ebb-Tide (1894), which condemned European colonial exploitation. Stevenson died on December 3, 1894, in Vailima, Samoa. His last work, Weir Of Hermiston (1896), was left unfinished.