A collection of twenty cuttings from American newspapers mostly relating to autograph collecting.

Author: 
American Autograph Collecting [New York; the Declaration of Independence]
Publication details: 
[Boston, New York and other places]; 1867-1893.
£150.00
SKU: 5235

Varying in size from a few lines to a column nineteen inches in length, and on aged high-acidity paper. In good condition, though frail, and with a few closed tears. Texts clear and complete. In the remains of a stamped envelope (postmarked Philadelphia, 21 February 1912), addressed to E. H. Lauer of the Cadmus Book Company. Fewer than half the items are dated. The dated items include a long and interesting article on a forgotten English-born Philadelphian forger, headed 'A FORGER OF AUTOGRAPHS. | ROBERT SPRING'S SUCCESS IN BOLD LITERARY FRAUDS. | His Speciality Was the Signatures of Early American Patriots, and His Forgeries Are Treasured by Many a Collector - An Autograph of Pontius Pilate Made by Him.' (New York Sun, 28 March 1897); another (1893) on the collection of Dr John S. H. Fogg of South Boston; 'THE AUCTION SALE AT NO. 498 BROADWAY - CURIOUS SIGNATURES' (1867); three on the 1891 sale of the Leffingwell collection; another long piece (1894) headed 'A FADED DOCUMENT | The Declaration of Independence Now Illegible. | THE CHARTER OF AMERICAN LIBERTY | The Result of Carelessness in Exhibiting It to the Public. | NOW LOCKED UP IN A SAFE.' One on the Washington Letters auctioned with the library of Joseph J. Cooke of Providence; another on the sale of the autographs of J. K. Tefft of Savannah, Georgia; a long piece (Washington Evening Star, 28 October 1893, repaired with archival tape) headed 'NOTED AUTOGRAPHS | Furnished by the President and Others to the Public. | GIVEN TO THOSE WHO SELL THEM. | Senatorial Signatures and the Prices That They Fetch. | ALBUMS OF THE HOUSE.' A couple of items relate to coin collecting and one to book collecting.