STEVENSON (ROBERT LOUIS) THE AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT
OF HIS SHORT STORY TOLOPA, TAGAREWA!, 4 pp. folio,
fully signed, somewhat worn in the folds and each
leaf mounted, unbound.

*

Apparently UNPUBLISHED: this is a moral tale
addressed to the Samoan islanders, and with a serious
purpose--to warn them of the dangers of harbouring
lepers. It is particularly interesting as showing
Stevenson adapting his manner to suit his primitive
readers, though in the last paragraph he rises to a
height of impassioned eloquence. The story was
SOLU
evidently intended for publication in SAMOA,
the London Missionary Society Magazine, edited by
Stevenson's friend and translator the Reverend A.E.
Claxton. At the end of the manuscript the author has
added a note to Claxton concerning its publication,
which continues for six lines on the verso of the
leaf: as Claxton however has mounted each leaf on
London Missionary Society notepaper, the conclusion
of this note is obscured (though still legible before
a strong light).