Autograph Letter Signed de McCUTCHEON, George Barr (1866-1928)

Famed cartoonist John T. McCutcheon's older brother was a popular and prolific novelist and playwright, by far best known for his "Graustark" novels published between 1901 and 1927 and his bestseller "Brewster's Millions" (1901). ALS, 1p, 5 3/4" X 9", Warm Sulphur Springs, VA, 30 August 1910. Addressed to Ernst Hertzberg & Sons. Near fine. "Permit me to express my most sincere thanks for the copy of 'The Age of Reason,'" McCutcheon pens this long-time Chicago book bindery. "...It is a book I've always wanted, and to get a first edition in such a beautiful binding is more than gratifying. It was very good of you to remember me in this way...." Attractively penned. Thomas Paine's philosophical treatise "The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology," published in three parts (1794, 1795, 1807) was a bestseller in its day -- Hertzberg & Sons (today Monastery Hill Bindery) must have appreciated McCutcheon's work enormously to present a lavish custom-bound first edition of this scarce work -- likely as a present on the writer's 44th birthday on July 26th.