2006-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2006
BATES, Katharine Lee (1859-1929) an English professor at Wellesley, spent the summer of 1893 lecturing at Colorado College, where a group of visiting faculty (including her lover Katharine Coman) took a prairie wagon ride to Pike's Peak. She was so moved by the breathtakingly beautiful Rocky Mountain scenery that she composed the stanzas in her notebook on the trip back. In 1895, her hymn was first published in 'The Congregationalist' and almost immediately set to music. Bates revised the poem in 1904 and again in 1913, simplifying the prose. This is the final version. Though she distributed many printed copies, Bates reportedly said that she only penned six longhand copies. Autograph Manuscript Signed, "Katharine Lee Bates" 1p. folio, c. 1913-1929, being her holographic compilation of the lyrics to her song "America the Beautiful", and reads: O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassion'd stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness. America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law. O beautiful for heroes prov'd In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life. America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness, And ev'ry gain divine. O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears. America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea. This wonderful document is in Extra Fine condition and is an ultra rarity in American history manuscripts.
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