signed first edition Manuscript
24 August 1878 · Beverly Farms, MA
by HOLMES, Oliver Wendell
Beverly Farms, MA, 24 August 1878. Manuscript. A few small stains and mounting remnants on verso. Near Fine. On a 6-1/8" x 6-3/8" piece of lined paper the author has written the following six-line stanza from his poem "The Silent Melody":
Sweet are the lips of all who sing
When nature's music heather unsought
But never yet could voice or string
So truly shape our tenderest thought
As when by life's decaying fire
Our fingers sweep the stringless lyre!
Below this he has SIGNED "Oliver Wendell Holmes/Beverly Farms, Mass./Aug. 24th 1878." The poem is identified in ink in a smaller hand at the bottom left corner. (Inventory #: 020091)
Sweet are the lips of all who sing
When nature's music heather unsought
But never yet could voice or string
So truly shape our tenderest thought
As when by life's decaying fire
Our fingers sweep the stringless lyre!
Below this he has SIGNED "Oliver Wendell Holmes/Beverly Farms, Mass./Aug. 24th 1878." The poem is identified in ink in a smaller hand at the bottom left corner. (Inventory #: 020091)