LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882). Autograph poetic manuscript signed ("Henry W. Longfellow"), a fair copy of "The Poets", [Cambridge], 13 March 1876.

One page, 4to (222 x 184 mm), on Ackerman & Co. stationery, titled in autograph at head, complete as first published in four stanzas, about 95 words, 14 lines in total, old folds. [With:] an original pencil drawing of Longfellow by Jacques Reich; a portrait of Longfellow by S.A. Schoff after C.G. Thompson; etched portrait of Longfellow signed by S. Hollyer; and 5 others. All bound in full turquoise blue levant, triple gilt filet borders, white morocco lettering piece on upper cover, gilt edges, white watered silk doublures and endleaves, STAMP-SIGNED BY STIKEMAN (rubbing to joints); folding case.

Provenance: James Thomas Fields (1817-1881), from the library of Ticknor and Fields publisher, editor, and friend of Longfellow (see note below); acquired by George S. Hellman (1878-1958), New York City manuscript dealer and collector (see typed letter bound in); sold to A. Edward Newton (1864-1940), American industrialist, author, and notable book collector with a focus on English and American literature (bookplate, his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 1941, part II, lot 664).

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS OF LONGFELLOW'S SONNETS, ending with the well-known lines: "Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves are triumph and defeat." Bound in is a typewritten note from George S. Hellman which reads in part as follows: "Longfellow's manuscripts are of excessive rarity, this being one of two that have come, since the death of Mrs. James T. Fields, from the library of Longfellow's friend and publisher. Almost all the manuscripts of great American authors that were in this library have been willed to Harvard, and it is safe to predict that manuscripts of Longfellow will remain as difficult to obtain in the future as they have been in the past."