Original Signed Manuscript of "The Letter Under the Mirror"
n.d. [c.1927]. Original autograph manuscript : 24 leaves : black ink on rectos only : 276 edits : signed "Steele Rudd" on p.24 : vertical note in another hand and initialed " W. H." at the left margin of the first leaf
Paper lightly toned, most pronounced on final leaf; rust mark from paper clip at the head of the first 5 leaves; occasional fox mark. Near fine. Item #15639
Although this manuscript is undated, a version of this story first appeared in The Brisbane Courier on Saturday 10th September 1927 under the title, "Grey-green Homestead". Another version appeared six months later in The Bulletin on 21st March 1928 under the title, "The Letter Under the Mirror". Stories from the "Little Grey Homestead" started appearing in Bulletin in the 1920s; "A Cow With A Calf" (June 24, 1927) being the earliest example I've found. The stories, which revolve around a young Queensland farmer, were eventually gathered into Green Grey Homestead, published in 1934.
In 1928 editor Edward O'Brien, on behalf of publisher Jonathan Cape (London), wrote to Rudd asking for a biographical note and permission to include three short stories that had been published in The Bulletin in The Best Stories for 1929. Rudd replied by cable saying they could be used for £10. O'Brien replied that stories in anthologies were not paid for. As Winifred Hamilton later recalled, "Rudd was always up in arms over the honor-and-glory business of anthologies, asking why a writer should give his work any more than a tailor or a plumber. On this principle he did without the honor and glory of appearing in Britain's Best Short Stories." ("Remembering Steele Rudd" The Bulletin, Vol 56 No. 2902 p.4. 13th November, 1935).
Hamilton, a close friend, became sub-editor of Arthur Hoey Davis's magazine which, under Steele Rudd's name, was a monthly in 1924-25. With the venture faring badly, Davis moved to Sydney in 1926 to be joined by Winifred Hamilton a few months later. In 1926-27 the magazine became Steele Rudd's and the Shop Assistants' Magazine. Hamilton wrote a biography of Steele Rudd, the manuscript of which was purchased by the Mitchell Library.
The note on the first leaf, penned by Winifred, identifies "The Letter Under the Mirror" as one of the three stories selected for, but not included on principle, in Britain's Best Stories of 1929.
Price: $15,000.00