BRET HARTE HANDWRITTEN LETTER SIGNED 1902

This three-page letter was written "February 11th 1902" from Camberly England where Harte died of throat cancer just three months after writing this letter. Today Harte is probably best-known for two short stories: "THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP" and "THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT." But, in truth, he was a prolific writer of not only prose but also of poetry, plays, book reviews and magazine sketches. Yet, nothing he wrote was more successful than his romantic tales of the California Gold Rush. And these stories have been anthologized in every American literature textbook in every high school. Along with Mark Twain and a handful of other writers, Harte helped develop what came to be known as "local color" in American fiction.  He often wrote in the regional dialect of miners, gamblers and other characters of the old west. Without being certain, I can gather that the letter discusses some kind of travel plans -- past or future -- because I can decipher a few words such as "luggage" and "passengers". Near the close of the letter, he also talks about "my story 'Snowbound at Eagles'".  This letter has an open trench cut affecting both leaves. And a closed tear of about 1" at the  right margin. And Harte or someone has adhered a white rectangular piece of paper at the bottom of the closing page. Very faint writing saying "Very truly yours Bret Harte "can be detected on the paper. Near the left margin of this card are three embossed letters -- hard to read them, but they are probably Harte's initials. In the upper left corner of the first page, someone has penciled in the words "Coach Bret Harte". It could have been the recipient or perhaps the delivery agent indicating what mode of transportatiion would deliver the letter. This is a very full letter and with the exception of the imperfections mentioned above, it's in very good condition.