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MORLEY, CHRISTOPHER. 1880-1957. Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Christopher Morley"), entitled "Where the Blue Begins. A Divine Comedy," 172 pp, mostly rectos, 4to, New York, 1925,
11 April 2016, 10:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$15,000 inc. premium
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MORLEY, CHRISTOPHER. 1880-1957.
Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Christopher Morley"), entitled "Where the Blue Begins. A Divine Comedy," 172 pp, mostly rectos, 4to, New York, 1925, being several drafts of the three act play based on the 1922 novel of the same name, in ink and pencil mostly on New York Evening Post and Green Escape, Roslyn Heights, New York stationery, with ten typescript pages, some soiling and tears. Housed in custom blue half-morocco backed cloth slipcase, soiled, edges rubbed.
Provenance: Marjorie Wiggin Prescott (1893-1980, her sale, Christie's, February 6, 1981, Lot 261).
WITH: RACKHAM, Arthur. "'I have found God,' he said." Original pen-and-ink drawing of the tramp and Gissing with corrections in white paint, 11 x 7.5 inches, signed "A Rackham" lower left, published in Where the Blue Begins, illustrated edition, 1925, two creases and slight foxing.
Christopher Morley was a popular American journalist, editor, novelist, essayist, poet, lecturer and stage producer, best remembered for his novel Kitty Foyle (1939) and as a founder of The Saturday Review of Literature and The Baker Street Irregulars. Where the Blue Begins is a whimsical satire first published as a novel in 1922 and reissued in 1925 in a gift edition illustrated in color and black-and-white by Arthur Rackham. It is the story of a dog named Gissing (after the author George Gissing) and his canine community. In the Prologue of this manuscript for the stage adaptation (done in collaboration with E.S. Colling) the "Author" tells the "Producer," "In one sense the characters are dogs, in another sense they aren't. You see, it's kind of a satire--and by pretending they're dogs you can take out some of the sting ... The characters are dogs, but they're dogs looking for a God, just as we are." (Although Christie's called it "an unpublished dramatization," it was actually issued in an edition of 100 copies in 1925 by Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, New York.) The story is now known primarily for the Arthur Rackham pictures, one of which is included with the manuscript. Lee, A Bibliography of Christopher Morley, 1935, p 63.
Provenance: Marjorie Wiggin Prescott (1893-1980, her sale, Christie's, February 6, 1981, Lot 261).
WITH: RACKHAM, Arthur. "'I have found God,' he said." Original pen-and-ink drawing of the tramp and Gissing with corrections in white paint, 11 x 7.5 inches, signed "A Rackham" lower left, published in Where the Blue Begins, illustrated edition, 1925, two creases and slight foxing.
Christopher Morley was a popular American journalist, editor, novelist, essayist, poet, lecturer and stage producer, best remembered for his novel Kitty Foyle (1939) and as a founder of The Saturday Review of Literature and The Baker Street Irregulars. Where the Blue Begins is a whimsical satire first published as a novel in 1922 and reissued in 1925 in a gift edition illustrated in color and black-and-white by Arthur Rackham. It is the story of a dog named Gissing (after the author George Gissing) and his canine community. In the Prologue of this manuscript for the stage adaptation (done in collaboration with E.S. Colling) the "Author" tells the "Producer," "In one sense the characters are dogs, in another sense they aren't. You see, it's kind of a satire--and by pretending they're dogs you can take out some of the sting ... The characters are dogs, but they're dogs looking for a God, just as we are." (Although Christie's called it "an unpublished dramatization," it was actually issued in an edition of 100 copies in 1925 by Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, New York.) The story is now known primarily for the Arthur Rackham pictures, one of which is included with the manuscript. Lee, A Bibliography of Christopher Morley, 1935, p 63.