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Lot 163
UNPUBLISHED EDWARD S. CURTIS MANUSCRIPT OF A NOVEL. What Would You Do? Typed Carbon with penciled annotations throughout, 292 pp, 4to, n.p., n.d.,
30 June – 1 July 2021, 16:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$5,737.50 inc. premium
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UNPUBLISHED EDWARD S. CURTIS MANUSCRIPT OF A NOVEL.
What Would You Do? Typed Carbon with penciled annotations throughout, 292 pp, 4to, n.p., n.d., being a complete draft of a 29 chapter novel set in the Pacific Northwest, on 3-hole paper, pages moderately toned, some smudging from carbon paper, final leaf creased, housed in vintage 3 ring binder.
Provenance: Purchased by Dr. Billy Utley from Manford "Mag" Magnuson.
Curtis wrote this action-packed, multi-generational potboiler towards the end of his life, drawing on his decades of experience among native people in the Pacific Northwest. The novel opens with a group of federal agents investigating an opium smuggling ring in the Pacific Northwest that is using a native settlement to hide its activities. A corrupt politician is in partnership with Wong Fu, the Chinese mobster, and McKay, a Bostonian married to a native woman who runs the smuggling operations from the native village. When their operation is uncovered, McKay flees on a sealing vessel, abandoning his wife and child.
Years pass and McKay's daughter and Henderson's children grow up and move in the same circles. Henderson's son is taken into the legitimate branch of his father's business, while his daughter becomes close with McKay's daughter at school. Scott and Leona fall in love, but there are many obstacles in their way, including a surprise reveal about the parentage of one of them. Ultimately the feds close in on the smuggling operation and the story concludes in tragic violence.
Provenance: Purchased by Dr. Billy Utley from Manford "Mag" Magnuson.
Curtis wrote this action-packed, multi-generational potboiler towards the end of his life, drawing on his decades of experience among native people in the Pacific Northwest. The novel opens with a group of federal agents investigating an opium smuggling ring in the Pacific Northwest that is using a native settlement to hide its activities. A corrupt politician is in partnership with Wong Fu, the Chinese mobster, and McKay, a Bostonian married to a native woman who runs the smuggling operations from the native village. When their operation is uncovered, McKay flees on a sealing vessel, abandoning his wife and child.
Years pass and McKay's daughter and Henderson's children grow up and move in the same circles. Henderson's son is taken into the legitimate branch of his father's business, while his daughter becomes close with McKay's daughter at school. Scott and Leona fall in love, but there are many obstacles in their way, including a surprise reveal about the parentage of one of them. Ultimately the feds close in on the smuggling operation and the story concludes in tragic violence.

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