[SAMUEL CLEMENS] FREDERICK W. PEABODY Remarkable document! A copy of the Christian Science Church Manual, signed by its owner, Peabody, with handwritten notes by Mark Twain, who used it in preparing his famous 1907 polemic against Mary Baker Eddy and the church she founded. Book signed: "Frederick W. Peabody/Notations by Mark Twain" on title page, 95 pages, 5¼x7¼, hardcover. Church Manual of the First Church of Christ Scientist by Mary Baker G. Eddy, The Christian Science Publishing Society, Boston, Massachusetts, 1899, 11th Edition. Label affixed to front cover: "Church Manual of the First Church of Christ/Mark Twain's Copy With Annotations". This book, which belonged to Peabody, has been annotated by Clemens, the noted author and lecturer who was known for his efforts to debunk frauds - especially those whom he deemed as religious charlatans. FREDERICK W. PEABODY has been described as a "detached or critical" biographer of Mary Baker Glover Eddy. SAMUEL L. CLEMENS, popularly known as "Mark Twain", directed his scorn toward both Mrs. Eddy and her religion in his 1907 book, Christian Science read more...

ERNEST HEMINGWAY Handwritten letter to associate Peter Buckley, signed "Papa," filled with tales of his time spent in Spain and France meeting bullfighters and other famous friends. Autograph Letter signed: "Papa", 1 page, 8¼x10½. Paris, 1956 November 24. On letterhead of the Hotel Ritz to "Dear Peter" [Buckley], in full: "Thank you very much for the lovely big pictures. The ones at Zaragosa and the one of Antonio [Ordonez] and Mary were especially good. Would you do me a very big favour and be a good boy and do it promptly? Please send the pictures you took of Mary and me and Cooch Behar and Gina Egan in the bariera to Miss Gina Egan [at London address]. I promised to see they were sent and have worried about them. Please do this Peter. We saw a lot of Juanito Madinaveitia and also had lunch once and dinner twice with Juan Belamonte . We had a wonderful time together. Mary is much better in every way. I've been following Juanito's regime faithfully. When get next pressure taken will assess how things go. Coldest Nov. 23 in Paris since 1914, -4°. Shot a lot of partridges in Spain. Got some good pictures. We took Caro to the shoot. He sends his best to you. Mary and I send love. read more...

DASHIELL HAMMETT Signed and notarized 1930 contract selling Paramount the rights to one of his stories Typed Contract signed: "Dashiell Hammett", 4 pages, 8½x11, separate sheets. No place, but County of Los Angeles, 1930 November 26. Contract between Hammett and Paramount Publix Corporation regarding the sale of the rights "to an original story entitled AFTER SCHOOL written by the seller [Hammett]." Hammett was paid "the sum of Five Thousand ($5000.00) Dollars, receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged." Countersigned by the Executive Manager of Paramount Publix Corporation. Lightly creased. Nicked at upper right blank corner of first page, file holes at blank left margins. Fine condition. Accompanied by typed notarized statement signed: "Alfred A. Grosser" as Notary Public, 1 page, 8½x11. Attesting that "personally appeared DASHIELL HAMMETT, personally known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing instrument...." Lightly creased, chipped at upper right blank corner. File holes at blank left margin. Fine condition. After School became City Streets, released in 1931 and starring Gary Cooper. read more...

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS. Scarce Cabinet Card Photograph signed: "Faithfully yours:/Joel Chandler Harris". Sepia, 4¼x6½ overall, image 4x5¾ (two surfaces). Photographer's imprint beneath image and on verso: "C.W. Motes/Photographer,/No. 34 Whitehall St./Atlanta/GA." In the 1880s, Harris, a former journalist for Georgia newspapers, became one of the first American writers to use original dialects in his stories rooted in Black folklore. His lead character was Uncle Remus, a servant who entertains the young son of his master with tales of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear, animals with distinctly human qualities. His books, which are credited with preserving the African-American heritage of the old South, include Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings (1880), Nights with Uncle Remus (1883) and Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit (1906). Fragile condition. The photo had split, touching the "d" in Chandler. It is repaired by conservator's tape on verso and by encapsulation. Stained on verso. Upper corners chipped, edges worn. Pencil notes on verso (unknown hand). read more...

MARGARET MITCHELL Pleased that friend and fellow author Edwin Granberry is writing again, she shares with him her relief that the frenzy over the movie version of her book has abated with the outbreak of war: "The world has far more important things to think about these days than me." Several other literary notables are mentioned in this letter. Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 3 pages, 7¼x10½. Atlanta, Georgia, 1940 September 23. To "My dear Mabel and Edwin [Granberry], you varmint". In part: "Here I've gone around feeling blue ever since I had the last news of you (Edwin) that you had given up any notion of writing any more. I had thought about what a waste of talent it was and had heroically restrined myself from writing and telling you so. Then, a month ago, vague rumors began trickling into my ears at parties that you were writing again. Don't ask me who told me because I don't know. I go places and meet two hundred strangers in thirteen and a half minutes, and some of them say, 'Oh, do you know Edwin Granberry who is doing some writing?' and before I could catch them they would disappear and twelve more strange faces would stand before me. read more...

ERNEST HEMINGWAY and PAULINE HEMINGWAY The author and his second wife sign a 1930 Trust Agreement, consigning bonds and preferred stocks to the trust. Typed Document signed: "Ernest Hemingway" and "Pauline Pfeiffer Hemingway" on page 7, 10 pages, 8¾x11¼. New York, 1930 February 18. Trust Agreement with City Bank Farmers Trust Company. The Hemingways, who were living in Paris, France at this time, donate property described on Schedule A for "Trust Estate": "$10,000 Kingdom of Belgium External Sinking Fund 6% bonds due January 1, 1955; 100 Shares Electric Bond and Share Company 6.00 Cumulative Preferred Stock; 300 Shares William H. Warner & Co. Inc. Preferred Stock Par Value $100". Also signed by a Trust Officer. Struggling writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) met Pauline Pfeiffer, an editor with the Paris edition of "Vogue" at a party in Paris in 1925. Hemingway, who was married to his first wife, Hadley Richardson, at the time, divorced Hadley, the mother of his first son, and married Pauline on May 10, 1927, the year after his novel, The Sun Also Rises, had been published. read more...

MARGARET MITCHELL The year she received the Pulitzer Prize for Gone With the Wind, she writes of fending off law suits, including a plagiarism suit, and desires to visit friends in Florida only if her visit can be kept secret from reporters and autograph seekers. Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 2 pages(front and verso), 7¼x11. Atlanta, Georgia, 1937 July 27. On personal letterhead to ""Dear Mabel and Edwin", [Granberry], in full: "If your offer of hospitality still holds good I would like to come to visit you two for three days, preferably around the end of this week (arriving Saturday the 31st or Sunday the 1st). However, if this date is not convenient to you for any reason, please do not hesitate to tell me so and to fix your own dates. John will not be able to come with me. His own work at his office is very heavy at present and my business affairs which he is handling at night show no signs of slacking. We have two new lawsuits in addition to the plagiarism suit! I'll tell you about them when I see you. I think I know you two well enough to ask for frankness. Please tell me (1) just when it will be read more...

ERNEST HEMINGWAY Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway signed this document in 1938 to buy additional shares in a company. Document signed "Ernest Hemingway" as Trustee and by an unknown Donor, both in blue ink. Pencil notation at top edge in unknown hand. 1 page, 8½x11, carbon copy, thin paper. Aug. 11, 1938. Addressed to Ernest Hemingway, Trustee. Headed: "Delivery of Additional Securities/Under Trust dated November 2, 1936". Hemingway signed this document to buy an additional 22 shares, at $100 per share in William R. Warner & Company, Inc. This purchase was in accordance with a Trust Agreement that Hemingway had signed on Nov. 2, 1936. In May 1918, Hemingway (1899-1961) volunteered to serve in the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in World War I. On July 8, 1918, Austrian artillery hit the 19-year-old. The injuries were so severe that he had to be hospitalized in Milan. Hemingway would later condemn the savagery of war. His 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms was the study of an American ambulance officer's disillusionment in the war and his role as a deserter. read more...

ERNEST HEMINGWAY Handwritten 1936 manuscript intended for publication in Esquire magazine, vividly describing the horrors of war, with his third person signature in the text Autograph Manuscript signed in text: "Mr. Ernest Hemingway" in pencil, 1 page, 8½x11. No place, c. 1936. Headed by him: "Please Mr. Ernest Hemingway by Paul Harris, The American Criterion, Dec 1935, about 'letters' appearing monthly in Esquire...." Ernest Hemingway was a frequent contributor to "Esquire" magazine. He wrote a total 31 "letters" which were published in "Esquire" in the 1930s. In the September 1935 issue, he wrote: "Notes on the Next War: A Serious Topical Letter". This may be a rough draft of one of the 31 "letters". Hemingway has made an "X", crossing out the entire letter. In part: "Mr. Hemingway, you were at the front. You saw people die? I was ten and I saw people, I saw something in them die and they had to go on making believe they were alive still with their guts out of them. I saw people age. I saw the unseeable, the drawn faces, the haunted eyes...A child is sensitive to change in those he knows [he is referring to an aunt, a cousin, involved in changes resulting from life in wartime]. read more...