AUTOGRAPH

Some Reminiscences and Reflections on Collecting Autographs.

Author: 
Charles King Wadham [autograph collecting; Yale University Press]
Publication details: 
Dalton, Massachusetts: Maisonette. ['Privately printed, The Printing-Office of the Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, March 1931'.]
£45.00

Octavo: 32 pp. Stitched. In original printed wraps. Internally clean and tight, but wraps dogeared and grubby, with closed tear and pen mark. Tissue-guarded frontispiece of Wadham, with small dogear to top corner (not affecting image). Facsimile of Whittier's autograph. Read before the 'Saturday Evening Club of Dalton'. 'My collection today is so comprehensive [sic] that I have no hesitation in soliciting the most distinguished personages; in fact, I feel that I am conferring an honor rather than offering an insult in asking them.

Typed Note Signed ('W L Courtney') to Miss E. F. Davies.

Author: 
William Leonard Courtney (1850-1928), British critic and editor of the 'Fortnightly Review'
Publication details: 
19 November 1907; on letterhead 53 Gordon Square, W.C. [London].
£10.00

One page, on piece of paper roughly seven inches by eight wide. On aged paper laid down on a piece of card, and with some wear and paper and glue stains. 'My dear Madam, | In reply to your letter of Novr. 18th, I have pleasure in sending you my autograph, as you desire.' Four-line printed biographical cutting in bottom right-hand corner.

At Private Sale, November, 1859. Catalogue of the Entire Private Collection of Autograph Letters, &c. gathered during several years, with much care and expense, by Mr. T. H. Morrell. [..] nearly every Prominent Character in the Revolutionary War [..]

Author: 
T. H. Morrell [Bangs, Merwin & Co, auctioneers; autograph collecting; auction catalogues; Declaration of Independence; American Presidents]
Publication details: 
New York: Bangs, Merwin & Co., At the Trade Sale Rooms, 13 Park Row. 1 November 1859.
£150.00

Octavo: 28 pp. Stabbed. In original blue printed wraps. Advertisements on back. On browning high-acidity paper, in chipped and worn wraps with damp staining to edges at rear. 298 items. Items 95-141: 'Signers of the Declaration of Independence and Presidents of the United States.' Scarce: no copy on COPAC, which does record one copy of a catalogue of a sale of Morrell's books by the same firm in 1866, and two copies of a catalogue of a further sale in 1869.

Katalog 1: Autographen.

Author: 
Christian M. Nebehay, Austrian dealer in autographs
Publication details: 
Wien 1. (Vienna, Austria) Annagasse 18. [1950s?]
£50.00

Quarto: 40 pp. In original printed wraps, decorated with various facsimiles. Facsimiles in text, and portrait of Beethoven on rear inner wrap. Good, on browned paper. Sections on painters, writers, poets, architects, sculptors, musicians. Nods towards the American market, with some entries in English and Dollar conversions. Together with Nebehay's attractive bifoliate trade card, carrying a photograph of his premises.

Autographs [Reprinted from The Concise Encyclopaedia of Antiques Volume IV by kind permission of The Connoisseur].

Author: 
P. J. Croft [Winifred A. Myers (Autographs) Ltd]
Publication details: 
London: Winifred A. Myers (Autographs) Ltd, 80 New Bond Street, W1. [c.1954].
£45.00

Quarto: 10 pp (paginated 236-41). Stapled. In original printed green card wraps. Good, though lightly creased. Five plates, examples of the hands of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir John Harington, Admiral Lord Nelson, together with an original and a faked Burns letter. While the offprint is undated, the Encyclopaedia itself was published in 1954.

Autograph Note Signed from Woolf to Rev. E. J. F. Davies.

Author: 
Evelyn Woolf, secretary to Marguerite d'Alvarez (c.1883-1953), English contralto singer
Publication details: 
30 October 1928; 27 West 67th Street, New York.
£10.00

One page, octavo. Good on aged and lightly creased paper. 'As you see by the enclosed it was returned to Mme D'Alvarez. | She is so sorry, but hopes it will now reach you. | Yours Truly | [signed] Evelyn Woolf | Secretary'.

Autograph Signature on card, addressed to autograph collector Albert Millward.

Author: 
Murray Kash, Canadian-born British actor, announcer and author, compere of the BBC television programmes 'It Pays To Be Ignorant', starring Michael Bentine (1957)
Publication details: 
Undated; place not stated.
£35.00

One page. Dimensions of card roughly three and a half inches by four and a half. Right-hand side and bottom edge of card cropped. 'Autograph of' printed at head, and beneath this 'To Albert Millwa | With very best wi | Murray Kash'. The right-hand edges of the letter 'K' in Kash's name extend rightwards over the rest of the word, and may be very slightly cropped. Upper four lines of biographical cutting laid down at foot. Fragment of printed letter from Millward (and signed by him) requesting the autograph, beneath remains of plastic film on reverse.

Le Gout des Manuscripts. Discours inaugural prononce a Bale le 28 juin 1956 [...] devant la Societe suisse d'amateurs d'autographes.

Author: 
Theodore Besterman
Publication details: 
Geneva: Societas Bibliographica, 8 rue Verdaine [1956.]
£75.00

12mo: 45 pp. In original light-green printed wraps. Very good on lightly aged paper, with some sunning to wraps. Inscribed by the author "For Mary | with love & all good wishes for Christmas and the New Year, especially the show' | Th." Besterman attempts to demonstrate that the taste for autographs, 'tres loin d'etre malsaine, est au contraire pure et bienfaisante'.

Catalogue of the Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson Hogg (1792-1862), Consisting principally of Letters from Percy and Mary Shelley. Sold by Order of his Great-Nephew Major R. J. Jefferson Hogg, M.C. of Norton-on-Tees, Co. Durham.

Author: 
Thomas Jefferson Hogg [Sotheby & Co.; Percy Bysshe Shelley; autograph letters; auction catalogue]
Publication details: 
London: Messrs. Sotheby & Co., 34 and 35 New Bond Street, W.1.; 30 June 1948. [Printed by Kitchen & Barratt, Ltd., Park Royal Road, N.W.10.]
£80.00

Octavo: 21 pp. Leaf of prices and buyers' names loosely inserted. Stapled. In original yellow printed wraps. Somewhat creased and chipped, on aged, spotted paper. Two-page foreword. Maggs were the main buyers, but the three highest sellers among the 105 lots, all Shelley letters, went to other dealers: lot 13, 'quoting 36 lines of original verse', for £155 to Pickering; lot 55, 'describing the origins and method of his elopement with Mary Godwin', £175 to Quaritch; lot 65, 'dealing with many topics', £360 to W. H. Robinson.

Spaziergange im Reiche des Autographen. Ein Anregung zum Autographensammeln. Mit einer Titelzeichnung von Hans Thoma und 58 anderen Abbildungen.

Author: 
Professor Dr. Eugen Wolbe (1873-1938), Studientrat [autograph collecting; autographs]
Publication details: 
Berlin: Richard Carl Schmidt & Co. 1925.
£120.00

Quarto: 196 + xii pp. 58 facsimiles in text, but lacking frontispiece. No dustwrapper. In original cloth binding, decorated on the front board in yellow, grey and black. Good, with spotting to edges and boards. Concentrating exclusively on German autographs. Wolbe was removed from his teaching post by the Nazis in 1933.

Autograph Note Signed to the autograph hunter Rev. E. J. F. Davies.

Author: 
Ralph David Blumenfeld (1864-1948), newspaper editor
Publication details: 
15 December 1930; on letterhead of the Daily Express.
£10.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, with light paperclip spotting. 'Certainly. I am glad to comply with your request.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. Rayson Venables') to Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.

Author: 
Horace Rayson Venables (b. c.1898) [AUTOGRAPHS; Montgomery of Alamein]
Publication details: 
3 June 1943; 28 Chalcot Square, Regent's Park, N.W.1, on cancelled letterhead of 44 Oakfield Court, N.8.
£40.00

Four pages, 12mo. Good, on aged paper with one half-inch closed tear. Claims to be 'compiling an historic book [...] which has been left to the nation', and asks for his contribution. Provides a full-page list from the 'over 500 Autographs'. The collection 'could not be complete without' Montgomery's 'honoured name'. Asks for 'a few words (as many others have done) on the blank side so as to keep this for Gen Alexander & others who took part in your campaign'. Congratulates him on his 'brilliant Victory'.

Ten Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E Walford') to a number of different correspondents (including A., F. and H. Barker, Mrs Ratcliffe and a newspaper editor named 'Taylor').

Author: 
Edward Walford (1823-97), topographer, genealogist, antiquary and editor of 'Once a Week' and 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer'
Publication details: 
Five undated, the others 1860 to 1890; all but one (from Bracknell in Berkshire) from a number of London addresses.
£400.00

All items good, though on dusty and aged paper. Five items are addressed to sellers of manuscripts (probably the same individual). ONE (to H. Barker, 23 April 1885, on letterhead of 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer', one page, octavo): Asks to be offered Wellesley autographs purchased at a recent Sotheby sale, of which he sent an account to 'The Times', which was 'crowded out'. TWO (to F. Barker, 25 April [1885], 'at T.

Autograph Letter Signed to "le Comte Cossilla, conservateur des Archives Royales, a [Turin?]".

Author: 
Baron [G.J.A.] de Stassart, Belgian miscellaneous writer
Publication details: 
Paris 4 May 1843.
£85.00

In French. One page, 4to, blank bifoliate, fold marks, mainly good condition. The central subject is autograph-collecting. He initially refers to the "interessants" autographs which Cossilla sent him in 1841and which had not arrived by a diplomatic conduit but only 4 or 5 months previously. He makes a comment about his "relations autographiques" with his correspondent and promises to offer duplicates ("doubles [underlined] qui pourront vous convenir"). Note: an online reference to de Stassart (a Descartes letter from his collection) indicates a major autograph collector.

Invoice Signed, printed heading with manuscript additions, made out to a Mrs [Madeleine] Dale with other material.

Author: 
Bernard Quaritch, bookseller
Publication details: 
15 Piccadilly, London, 26 Oct. 1889.
£450.00

Invoice, one page, 4to, minor defects, seeks payment for "Sorting & arranging a Collection of Autographs & Letters, by an Expert, with very great care . . . [£8.8s] Mounting & Guarding nearly 400 Letters, as arranged, Paper for Mounting & carefully guarding the same | Binding the collection in 9 vols 4to. & impl. 4to. in large morocco lettered [£12.12]." Bernard Quaritch has signed the receipt. With a printed receipt completed in manuscript, signed "Bernard Quaritch" (printed), one page, 8vo, good condition, acknowledging the receipt of £5.9.0 from "Mrs Madeleine Dale.

A small collections of letters to Robert Cole, and related notes and printed material.

Author: 
Robert Cole, antiquary and autograph (and manuscript)-collector of note.
Publication details: 
Various places, 1856-1860.
£400.00

The material is loosely sewn together and not bound, much marking and chipping but little textual loss. There is an interchange of information, the main drive being antiquarian material concerning Sir Michael Stanhope, however remote the connection, some elicited by a request for information in "Notes & Queries".Twenty-one autograph letters, most extensive, signed from antiquaries, many distinguished: Robert Lemon, archivist (DNB) (1), George R. Corner, antiquary (DNB) (9), "Mr Sage" (enclosed in letter from King - and TO H.W. King - but signature cut off: "E.J.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. K. F. Gatty') to 'Mrs. Wakefield'.

Author: 
Horatia Katharine Frances Eden (née Gatty) (born 1846), sister and biographer of Mrs Juliana Horatia Ewing
Publication details: 
Ecclesfield, Sheffield; 22 March [year not stated].
£60.00

Four pages, 12mo. Mourning border. Aged and spotted, with remains of three mounts adhering to one edge. She is enclosing a note from 'Miss Yonge', and 'one from Miss Roberts [Margaret Roberts] who wrote "Madlle Mori", "In the Olden Time", "The Atelier du Lys" &c. She refers to Miss Yonges mother in her note'. She is also sending a note 'from Mr. Dodgson too. Who is "Lewis Caroll'. (Alice in Wonderland) - & one from Isa Craig - now Mrs. Knox.

Autograph Note Signed ('Donald Mackenzie Wallace') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace (1841-1919), foreign correspondent of the London 'Times' who published an important work on Russia
Publication details: 
29 June 1907; on letterhead St Ermin's Mansions, Caxton Street, S.W. [London].
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Good, on aged and lightly spotted paper, but with blank verso showing traces of previous mounting. Nine-line printed biographical cutting laid down in top left-hand corner. Reads 'Madam, In accordance with your request I enclose my autograph'.

Autograph Card Signed ('Agnes Castle' and 'Egerton Castle').

Author: 
Egerton Castle (1858-1920) and his wife Agnes Castle, nee Sweetman (1860-1922), British historical novelists
Publication details: 
6 December 1901; place not stated [Brighton].
£30.00

Printed Post Card, dimensions three and a half inches by five and a half. Good, on aged paper, but with the reverse (showing the remains of a photograph of Brighton) damaged by its removal from an autograph album. Unobtrusive vertical crease. Reads (apparently in Egerton Castle's hand) 'Dear Miss Gray | Your letter has been forwarded to us here. We have much pleasure in sending you the autographs you desire'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Wemyss Reid') [to Rev. E. J. F. Davies].

Author: 
Sir Thomas Wemyss Reid (1842-1905), British novelist and biographer
Publication details: 
8 July 1902; Falcon Hotel, Bude, Cornwall.
£30.00

One page, 12mo. On blue paper discoloured from glue by previous mounting. Seven-line printed biographical cutting in top right-hand corner. 'I am very happy to comply with your request [for an autograph].'

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
W.W. Caddell, autograph-collector [?]
Publication details: 
3 Castellain Road, Maida Hill, w. [London], 16 Feb. 1914.
£80.00

Two pages, 8vo, good condition. He claims that he has checked his post and finds he had not answered her. "If you still have the autograph letters of Gissing & others & will post them on approval I will see if I can afford your price." He refers to his enclosure of a "The 'Bazaar' Reference Register" (present) which is a coupon certifying that the references provided by "Capt. W. Waithman Caddell" were perfectly satisfactory.

Autograph Letter signed ('B. W. Proctor') to 'Mr C Schofield'.

Author: 
Bryan Waller Procter (1787-1874), English poet writing under pseudonym 'Barry Cornwall'
Publication details: 
32 Weymouth Street | 16 August 1863'.
£80.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. Docketed in pencil at head. 'I have no knowledge of Mr Tupper [presumably the poetaster Martin Farquhar Tupper, 1810-89] or of his address. I was in hopes that the madness of collecting autographs had subsided - but I am sorry to perceive, from your letter, that this is not yet the Case.'

Signed Covering Document for the sale of papers signed by Nelson, Hardy, St Vincent and Trowbridge.

Author: 
Commander Richard Longfield Davies, R.N., of Reddinick House, Penzance [R. Hedges Davies; Nelson; Hardy; St Vincent; Trowbridge; Autograph Collecting]
Publication details: 
10/11/83
£60.00

On piece of paper five inches by six and a half. Good, with slight smudging to a couple of lines and a strip of archival tape on blank reverse. The four lines of text, in a different hand from the signature, were presumably written out by the purchaser, in order to indemnify himself in case of dispute. Reads: 'I hereby certify that these four papers signed respectively by Nelson, Hardy, St Vincent & Trowbridge have descended to me through my grandfather Richard Longfield Davies.-' Signature reads 'R. Hedges Davies | Nover. 10th. 1883.'

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Edmund Yates (1831-94), British novelist, dramatist and editor of the 'World' magazine
Publication details: 
28 August 1886; on letterhead 1 York Street, Covent Garden, London.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good on lightly-aged grey paper. Reads 'Dear Sir. | Here is the autograph you require. | Faithfully your's | [signed] Edmund Yates'. The words 'Here' and 'to' are slightly smudged.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to unnamed male correspondent. With manuscript English translation.

Author: 
Eugenie Nau, French actress, active in the cinema between 1908 and 1924
Publication details: 
10 March [1919]; on letterhead of the Hotel Thorndike, Boston.
£75.00

Octavo, one page. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with the merest hint of a damp stain. English translation in contemporary hand on separate piece of 12mo paper, with slight loss at head (not affecting text). She has received no acknowledgement from him for 'the autograph which I sent you and a little book of verse sold for the benefit of the soldier who wrote them. The little book ought to be sold for at least 75 cents.

Autograph Letter Signed to "Mrs Shelly".

Author: 
W.B. Sprague, American Congregational clergyman, autograph collector, biographer.
Publication details: 
No place, 27 March [watermark 1835].
£150.00

Two pages, 8vo, good condition. A good deal of politeness and circumlocution surround his statement of gratitude for the gift of some autographs.

Fragment of Typed Letter Signed to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
C. Maguire [autograph dealer?]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£80.00

On piece of paper roughly seven inches by eight wide. On aged paper with closed tears and fraying to extremities. Top part of document torn away, leaving ten complete lines of text. Lays out the conditions under which an archive of letters is offered for sale.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. F. Monypenny') to Charles J. Trevor.

Author: 
William Flavelle Monypenny (1866-1912), British journalist and historian, best known for his biography (with G. E. Buckle) of Benjamin Disraeli
Publication details: 
29 May 1907; on letterhead 2 Queen Anne's Gate, S.W.
£35.00

Two pages, 12mo. Good, on spotted paper. Folded twice.He is obliged to his correspondent for 'sending me a copy of the Disraeli letter in your possession'. He will not trouble his correspondent for a loan of the original 'as the contents are rather of private than of public interest'.

Autograph Letter Signed ("M. Howitt") to a "William Brown", autograph collector.

Author: 
Mary Howitt (1799-1888), miscellaneous writer (DNB)
Publication details: 
28 Upper [?] Road, Regents Park, [London], 22 Dec. [no year].
£100.00

Two pages, 8vo, creased, minor staining, left edge reinforced, text complete and clear as follows: "I have it not in my power to render you the service you request, and, I am sorry to say, cannot put you in the way of obtaining the autographs of Miss Jane Porter or Miss Edgeworth. Mrs. S.C. Hall's might be had I doubt not for the asking for - try addressing her at the Art Journal Office Wellington |Street (North) Starnd London." Mary Howitt's poem Father is coming", clipped from a newspaper is tipped onto the seecond page.

Autograph Letter Signed to autograph collector 'Miss <Lull?>'.

Author: 
General Sir Francis Thomas Lloyd (1838-1912), British soldier
Publication details: 
9 October 1907; on letterhead of The Lawn, Walmer.
£40.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good, on lightly creased paper. He is sending five autographs to add to her collection and is 'sorry not to have those of distinguished men of later dates but I am quite out of the service now'. Wonders if she knows his 'very dear friend General Nicholson who is living now at St. Andrews. He and his wife are among our dearest friends.' He 'saw the Godfreys last week - both well.'

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