Underwoods

London: Chatto & Windus, 1887 First edition, first printing, with 32 pp. Chatto & Windus "List of Books" advertisement to rear dated "July, 1887." Signed by Stevenson on title page. Additionally signed on title page by 19th century American writer Eugene Field. Publisher's slate blue cloth, with spine lettered in gilt, borders of front and rear boards ruled in blind, black endpapers, and mostly unopened pages. Near fine, with a touch of rubbing to spine ends and corners of boards, contemporary novelist George Barr McCutcheon's bookplate to front pastedown, a couple of small closed tears to top edge of front free endpaper, a trace of rust from a paperclip to the first couple of pages, and light spotting to fore edge of text block. Overall, a wonderful signed copy. Housed in a custom green half morocco slipcase, and green chemise. Underwoods is Robert Louis Stevenson's second collection of poetry. The collection is divided into two sections - the first with poems in English and the second with poems in Scots. Stevenson prefaces the latter section with a Table of Common Scottish Vowel Sounds, a valuable resource for pronunciation of 19th century Lallans Scots. Notably, Underwoods features the first appearance of "Requiem," an enduring short poem that Stevenson wrote as his own epitaph. The poem goes: Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill." Eugene Field (1850 - 1895) was an American humorist and newspaper columnist who was known as the "Poet of Childhood." Field wrote many children's poems that were widely read in his day and into the early 20th century, such as "Little Boy Blue," "Wynken, Blynken and Nod," and "The Duel," (also known as "The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat"). Notably, Robert Louis Stevenson was also well-known for his children's poetry, publishing the influential book, A Child's Garden of Verses (1885). George Barr McCutcheon (1866 - 1928) was a popular Indiana-born novelist and playwright, who wrote the classic Brewster's Millions (1902), about a man who must spend an inheritance of one million dollars within a year under strict conditions in order to be eligible for an even larger inheritance. The book has seen a number of film adaptations, perhaps most famously a 1985 version starring Richard Pryor and John Candy. . Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine.