CHICAGO — An important Tahitian relic from the extensive South Sea travels of Robert Louis Stevenson and two items associated with Samuel Clemens (who wrote as Mark Twain) are star lots at the Fine Books and Manuscripts sale at Potter & Potter July 25. The complete catalog is now available for review and bidding at LiveAuctioneers.
Best remembered for Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, Scottish-born Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) lived only a bit shy of four and a half decades but packed adventure into every turn. While often sickly, he traveled his beloved South Seas extensively and eventually would succumb to a stroke at his home in Samoa.
In 1888, Stevenson traveled to Tahiti and befriended a local tribal king named Ori A Ori. While visiting, his chronic illness problems arose, and he was nursed back to health by the daily ministrations of Princess Moe, a royal Tahitian known for her great beauty and her mastery of English. She visited the author several times a day with specially prepared meals. Stevenson’s wife Fanny (1840-1914) would later remark that Princess Moe’s care saved her husband’s life.
As was the custom of Tahitians, Stevenson was presented this ceremonial feast kava bowl by Chief Ori. Such a large and impressive dish (27in diameter) would have been used only with dignitaries, making its gifting a major honor. When Stevenson returned to Hawaii, he either sold or regifted it to the Spreckles Sugar family’s patriarch, Adolf Claus J. Spreckles (1828-1908, the “Sugar King”). The bowl was passed down through the Spreckles family until its eventual emergence on the market in 2007. Potter & Potter estimates the kava bowl at $10,000-$20,000. It comes with a temporarily detached brass plaque detailing its origins and is one of three Stevenson-connected lots in the sale.
Potter & Potter is also featuring four Samuel Clemens (1835-1910) items in the sale, including the event’s top lot: an inscribed first edition, Bal’s third issue presentation copy of The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim’s Progress from 1869. The inscription reads This book is given to Miss Jane Findlay Shunk, With the Kindest regards of Mark Twain [flourish] Harrisburgh, [sic] Jan. 21 / 72. Ms. Shunk (1792-1878) was a married woman at the time of the inscription, the daughter of former Pennsylvania governor William Findlay (1768-1846) and the wife of Pennsylvania Governor Francis Rawn Shunk (1788-1848). Though not well known today, The Innocents Abroad was Clemens’s most successful book during his lifetime, and is today one of the best-selling travel books of all time. It carries a presale estimate of $20,000-$30,000.
An interesting insight into Clemens’s personal life comes in the form of an autographed letter signed (ALS) in which he states he cannot yet help in the dramatization of Huckleberry Finn for production at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago. Dated August 22, 1902, Clemens writes (in part): The play came, but before I could snatch a look at it Mrs. Clemens was prostrate with a so serious illness that I have been as sick-nurse ever since: + I am still that, + am not expecting to do any work for some little time to come. The interesting correspondence for a show that would ultimately close after only 40 performances due to bad reviews is estimated at $4,000-$6,000. It is noteworthy that Olivia Langdon Clemens (1845-1904) would pass away from heart failure just two years later.
