Stevenson, Robert Louis Autograph letter initialed to W.E. Henley "Dear Henley, you will see

Stevenson, Robert Louis

Autograph letter initialed to W.E. Henley "Dear Henley, you will see me tomorrow afternoon. Please, please, be in. It may be a longish while to the next chance. Ever your friend, R.L.S.", Savile Club headed paper, undated, glued to verso of front free endpaper; Cunningham, Alison [R.L.S. Stevenson`s nanny] A.L.S. to the portrait painter George Fiddes Watt, saying that she is not able to sit for him due to a sore throat, 2 pp., 1 Conniston Place, 1 March 1909, tipped in; Fiddes Watt, GeorgeA.L.S. to Lord [Charles John] Guthrie, thanking him for the cheque of 50 guineas for the picture of Cummy [Alison Cunningham], stating that he cannot paint her today as she is not well and that he is enclosing her reply to him, with a signed receipt for the portrait of Cummy, 3pp., 2 Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh, 3rd March 1909, tipped in; Guthrie, Jane A.C. A.L.S. to Lord Guthrie, thanking him for a wonderful teddy bear for Euan, 18 March 1909, tipped in, all present in a copy of A child`s garden of verses. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, [?1908], illustrated by Charles Robinson, inscribed on first blank leaf by Lord Guthrie to "Frances M. Guthrie from the author`s college friend (out of his slender literary earnings), 2 December 1908", 8 coloured plates, numerous illustrations & coloured endpapers by Charles Robinson, original pictorial cloth, t.e.g., others uncut, occasional slight spotting, short split at head of joints

Note: A fine association copy. W.E. Henley was a close and early friend of R.L. Stevenson and, according to Stevenson, the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. He collaborated with Robert Louis Stevenson on various literary works including Deacon Brodie (1897), Beau Austin (1884) and Admiral Guinea, a melodrama (1884). Charles John Guthrie, Lord Guthrie, (1849- 1920), a Scottish lawyer who was the judge in the Oscar Slater trial, was Stevenson`s senior by a year and a fellow student of his during his reading for the Bar. They were Presidents of the Speculative Society in 1872. He was the author of "Cummy", the nurse of Robert Louis Stevenson : a tribute to the memory of Alison Cunningham (1913) and earned the gratitude of Stevensonians by making Swanston Cottage (Stevenson`s summer home for twelve years), of which he was the tenant, in part a museum in which were collected portraits, manuscripts, and other memorials of the novelist and of his family and associates, including the cabinet made by the notorious Deacon Brodie, which stood in the Stevenson nursery when Robert Louis Stevenson was a child. Lord Guthrie`s collection was bequeathed to the Stevenson museum at the author`s birthplace, 8 Howard Place, before being transferred to Lady Stair`s house, now The Writer`s Museum.

Alison Cunningham, “Cummy” (1822-1913), was Robert Louis Stevenson’s nurse. Born in Torryburn, Fife, Cummy was a strict Calvinist. She became Robert Louis Stevenson`s nurse in 1852, remaining in the household until November 1872. She was deeply devoted and loyal to the Stevensons and loved Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson was equally fond of her and dedicated A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885) to her to thank her for the nights she spent caring for him when he was ill as a child.

Tipped in at the beginning is a compliments slip from the Chief Librarian of Dundee Free Libraries, Museums and Fine Art Galleries stating that the book and the letters were exhibited in the Fine Art Galleries, Dundee, at the exhibition of 1932.