A full transcript of "A Psalm of Life" - photo 1
A full transcript of "A Psalm of Life" - photo 2

A full transcript of "A Psalm of Life"

Lot 41
15.06.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
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$ 2 394
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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ID 967626
Lot 41 | A full transcript of "A Psalm of Life"
Estimate value
$ 1 000 – 2 000
A full transcript of "A Psalm of Life"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 26 August 1845

LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882). Autograph manuscript signed ("Henry W. Longfellow"), "A Psalm of Life," Cambridge, 26 August 1845.



Three pages, bifolium, 226 x 170mm (mild toning at extreme left margin). Red morocco folder and red cloth chemise.



"Footprints on the sands of time." A rare, full autograph transcript of Longfellow's poem, "A Psalm of Life," which first appeared in the October 1838 issue of the Knickerbocker Magazine and the following year in his first published volume of poetry, Voices of the Night (1839). Because of its popularity, autograph quotations of the poem are somewhat common, but the present full transcription of all nine quatrains is rare. The fourth verse is especially resonant today, nearly 200 years after it was composed: "Art is long, and Time is fleeting / And our hearts, though stout and brave. / Still, like muffled drums are beating / Funeral marches to the grave." Provenance: J. William Middendorf II (his sale, Christie's New York, 17 May 1989, lot 131) – James S. Copley Library (his sale, Sotheby's New York, 17 June 2010, lot 385).

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15.06.2023
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