Cuban revolutionary leader and poet (1853–1895) who was killed while fighting for Cuban independence from Spain. Scarce unsigned manuscript fragment, in Spanish, one page, 8 x 8.75 (affixed to a same sized sheet), no date. An excerpt from a speech Marti gave at the Spanish-American Literacy Society in New York, praising the work of Colombian writer Santiago Triana. In part (translated): “A lot shines in Colombian literature, and with great light, these rich ingenious, but [the writing] of our guest loses nothing in their company, but rather sits as a brother, and even as a father, among them.” The complete text of the speech is documented in The Complete Works of Marti from Tropico Editions. Accompanied by a 1948 TLS from Gonzalo de Quesada to José Manuel Cabrera, thanking Cabrera for his cooperation on a book and confirming the source of the text in the handwritten fragment. In good condition, with marginal show-through of glue in blank left margin, mild wrinkling, and tissue restoration to tears touching several words of text. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
