£425
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs | 605
Auction: 17 June 2020 at 11:00 BST
a voucher with the printed heading 'Vailima', filled out by Stevenson and addressed to the Michigan trader Harry J Moore, asking him to deliver $4 to Metu, probably a Samoan household servant, 1 page, small oblong 8vo, 8 x 12.5cm., Vailima [Samoa], 14 March 1891
Note: The tubercular Stevenson had settled in Samoa for the sake of his health in 1890. He purchased some 300 acres of bushland and named his estate 'Vailima', Samoan for 'five rivers'. He presided over a patriarchal household which included his mother and his American wife Fanny as well as his stepson and stepdaughter, and employed about twenty Samoan native servants. The American Harry Moors became Stevenson's business agent and general informant on Samoan affairs and helped him acquire the Vailima estate. However Stevenson and Fanny fell out with him when they discovered he was charging them up to 50% more for supplies than the nearby MacArthur Trading Company's store. He published his informative With Stevenson in Samoa in 1910.