The Land of Mist Manuscript & More:
Christie's 2019 Sale Information

By Randall Stock, July 10, 2019  (revised)

Christie's sold the manuscripts of an unpublished chapter from Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger novel The Land of Mist and a poem about Shakespeare for well above their pre-sale high estimates.

 

 

The Land of Mist Manuscript (Chapter) Description

Lot 581: Manuscript of Chapter XIII of The Land of Mist by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Original autograph manuscript of an unpublished chapter from Conan Doyle's novel The Land of Mist. Not signed. No place or date, but 1924-1925. Headed on first page in a different ink as "XIII | The Darker Side."

 

This manuscript consists of 9 leaves of text, numbered in pencil as 1-10, with the third page missing. Text is written in dark ink on the rectos only of lined paper that is roughly 8 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches. As is common with Conan Doyle manuscripts, pages have a spindle/pin hole in the upper left corner. Rough edges at the top of the sheets suggest they might have been removed from a pad.

 

Annotations in both pencil and ink appear at the top of the first page. A faint note in pencil reads "3 Cos | 15 B'ham | Pal Mansions | by Friday(?) | evening." Conan Doyle bought a flat at 15 Buckingham Palace Mansions in London in 1922. He frequently had three typewritten copies made of his manuscripts, and this note indicates he wants those copies sent to his flat.

 

The chapter number and title were probably added later, along with a note in ink that reads "This Chapter was lost in some strange way & never appeared in book." See below for a photo of the first page and a photo with parts of four other pages.

 

The pre-sale estimate is £3,000 - £5,000 (US$3,825 - US$6,375).

 

Sale Results

The manuscript sold on July 10, 2019 for a price realized of £13,750 or about US$17,205. The hammer price of £11,000 was more than double the pre-sale high estimate.

 

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History of the Land of Mist

Professor Challenger appeared in a several science fiction/fantasy stories including The Lost World, which later inspired Jurassic Park. The series includes five stories:

 

Conan Doyle began writing his third Challenger novel, The Land of Mist, in October 1924 and finished it in February 1925. The tale first appeared in The Strand Magazine from July 1925 to March 1926. Hutchinson & Co published the first English edition in March 1926, and the George H. Doran Company produced the first American edition in May 1926.

 

The manuscript for the entire story, including this unpublished chapter, stayed in the family until the death of Sir Arthur's oldest son Denis Conan Doyle in 1955. Nina Mdivani Conan Doyle, Denis's widow, sent the manuscript to auction at Parke Bernet in New York on November 22, 1955. It was last reported as offered by a "Boston Collector" via Parke-Bernet on March 22, 1966. [updated 5/27/20: Christie's offers the remainder of The Land of Mist manuscript.]

 

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The Land of Mist Manuscript Photos

 

First page of Ch. 13 of The Land of Mist manuscript

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More pages from Ch. 13 of The Land of Mist Manuscript

 

More pages from Ch. 13 of The Land of Mist

 

For more details on the manuscript, see the description section above.

 

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"Shakespeare's Expostulation" Manuscript Description

Lot 580: Manuscript of "Shakespeare's Expostulation" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Autograph manuscript of Conan Doyle's poem about the Shakespeare authorship question. Signed as "Arthur Conan Doyle | Windlesham | Crowboro'." Not dated, but likely 1908. Headed on first page as "Shakespeare's Expostulation."

 

This manuscript consists of 3 leaves of text. Text is written in dark ink on the rectos only of lined paper that is roughly 8 x 12 3/4 inches. Pages have a spindle/pin hole in the upper left corner.

 

Pencil annotations appearing at the top of the first page include "Cornhill," "Proofs quickly," a circled number "1511," and what probably reads as "13 Duke A." See below for a photo of the first page and the complete text of the published poem.

 

The poem was first published in the Cornhill Magazine in March 1909. It was collected in Songs of the Road published by Smith Elder & Co in March 1911 and by Doubleday, Page & Company in October 1911.

 

This lot also includes a letter from Conan Doyle to Mr. Rose circa May 1905 with a proposal to write a play based on part of Conan Doyle's novel The Refugees.

 

The pre-sale estimate is £1,000 - £1,500 (US$1,275 - US$1,912).

 

Sale Results

The manuscript sold for a price realized of £2,125 or about US$2,660 (a hammer price of £1,7000 plus the buyer's premium).

 

First page of "Shakespeare's Expostulation" manuscript

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Full Text of the Published Poem "Shakespeare's Expostulation"

Masters, I sleep not quiet in my grave,

There where they laid me, by the Avon shore.

In that some crazy wights have set it forth

By arguments most false and fanciful,

Analogy and far-drawn inference,

That Francis Bacon, Earl of Verulam

(a man whom I remember in old days,

A learned judge with sly adhesive palms,

To which the suitors' gold was wont to stick) —

That this same Verulam had writ the plays

Which were the fancies of my frolic brain.

 

What can they urge to dispossess the crown

Which all my comrades and the whole loud world

Did in my lifetime lay upon my brow?

Look straitly at these arguments and see

How witless and how fondly slight they be.

 

Imprimis, they have urged that, being born

In the mean compass of a paltry town,

I could not in my youth have trimmed my mind

To such an eagle pitch, but must be found,

Like the hedge sparrow, somewhere near the ground.

 

Bethink you, sirs, that though I was denied

The learning which in colleges is found,

Yet may a hungry brain still find its food

Wherever books may lie or men may be;

And though perchance by Isis or by Cam

The meditative, philosophic plant

May best luxuriate; yet some would say

That in the task of limning mortal life

A fitter preparation might be made

Beside the banks of Thames. And then again,

If I be suspect, in that I was not

A fellow of a college, how, I pray,

Will Jonson pass, or Marlowe, or the rest,

Whose measured verse treads with as proud a gait

As that which was my own? Whence did they suck

This honey that they stored? Can you recite

The vantages which each of these has had

And I had not? Or is the argument

That my Lord Verulam hath written all,

And covers in his wide-embracing self

The stolen fame of twenty smaller men?

 

You prate about my learning, I would urge

My want of learning rather as a proof

That I am still myself. Have I not traced

A seaboard to Bohemia, and made

The cannons roar a whole wide century

Before the first was forged? Think you, then,

That he, the ever-learned Verulam,

Would have erred thus? So may my very faults

In their gross falseness prove that I am true.

And by that falseness gender truth in you.

And what is left? They say that they have found

A script, wherein the writer tells my Lord

He is a secret poet. True enough!

But surely now that secret is o'er past.

Have you not read his poems? Know you not

That in our day a learned chancellor

Might better far dispense unjustest law

Than be suspect of such frivolity

As lies in verse? Therefore his poetry

Was secret. Now that he is gone

'Tis so no longer. You may read his verse,

And judge if mine be better or be worse:

Read and pronounce! The meed of praise is thine;

But still let his be his and mine be mine,

 

I say no more; but how can you forswear

Outspoken Jonson, he who knew me well;

So, too, the epitaph which still you read?

Think you they faced my sepulcher with lies —

Gross lies, so evident and palpable

That every townsman must have wot of it.

And not a worshipper within the church

But must have smiled to see the marbled fraud?

Surely this touches you? But if by chance

My reasoning still leaves you obdurate,

I'll lay one final plea. I pray you look

On my presentment, as it reaches you.

My features shall be sponsors for my fame,

My brow shall speak when Shakespeare's voice is dumb,

And be his warrant in an age to come.

 

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Christie's Catalogue & Sale Information

Christie's provides online information for their sale number 17200 of Valuable Books and Manuscripts. This sale page also provides links to an interactive e-catalogue, a PDF version of the catalogue, and an option to purchase the printed catalogue.

 

You can also go directly to their listings for Lot 581: Manuscript of Chapter XIII of The Land of Mist and Lot 580: Shakespeare's Expostulation. Both include photos that can be enlarged.

 

Sale Information

Valuable Books and Manuscripts

Sale Number: 17200

Wednesday July 10, 2019 at 1:00 PM in London

 

Christie's London

8 King Street

St. James's

London SW1Y 6QT

Phone: +44 (0)20 7839 9060

 

The buyer's premium is 25% on the first £225,000, plus additional premium on amounts in excess of £225,000.

 

Pre-sale Viewing in London at King Street

Sat. 6 July: 12pm - 5pm

Sun. 7 July: 12pm - 5pm

Mon. 8 July: 9am - 4:30pm and 6pm - 8:30pm

Tue. 9 July: 9am - 8pm

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Acknowledgements and Page History

Manuscript photos courtesy of Christie's.

 

My thanks to Thomas Venning at Christie's, and to Peter E. Blau for his assistance.

 

This page is based on information provided by Christie's, and from other research including prior auction catalogues and sale reports.

 

The first version of this report appeared June 27, 2019. Sale results with the price realized were added on July 10, 2019.

 

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Related Pages

Christie's offers the remainder of The Land of Mist manuscript

 

Checklist of non-Sherlockian Conan Doyle Manuscripts

 

Census of Sherlock Holmes Manuscripts

 

Lists of each year's best Sherlock Holmes books & DVDs, the most famous Sherlock Holmes quotes, and more Top 10 Lists.

 

 

 

Return to Manuscripts Home page and Introduction

 

 

 

Vers. 2.1cx-RN Original work
Copyright ©2019  Randall Stock. All Rights Reserved.