Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts by Gen. Gates P. Thruston UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES %tu LiJ?^ A »\* AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS ANF HISTORIC MANUSCRIPTS. By g h N . u T H R I! SIGN Reprinted from the SEWANSr-KEViftWvi^rliiary, 190: :^.' C:- ■ v;^'^J '^"}';^^:i';' K •i^C^-^;S-^/->^^S'^I''^' '' "^'^ AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS AND HISTORIC MANUSCRIPTS. BY GEN. GATES P. THRUSTON Reprinted from the Sewanee Review, January, 1902. AUTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS AND HISTORIC MANUSCRIPTS. The title of this paper should perhaps be "The Auto- graph Mania." I am not an autograph collector in the or- dinary acceptation of that term. I have only a kind of col- lateral interest in the subject, and in the more serious sub- ject of collecting books and manuscripts. There have been several important autograph sales recent- ly in the city of Philadelphia, and by some chance the hand- somely illustrated catalogues were sent to me, giving the prices paid for the various manuscripts and autograph letters, and in a measure reviving the interest I felt in my younger days in this fascinating hobby, for with many collectors it is merely a hobby. These sales have suggested some reflec- tions on the general subject. The student of history naturally drifts into an interest in manuscripts, letters, and documents relating to events and men of note. The temptation to collect and own them, to become a bibliophile in the department of history or literature, often fol- lows; and, unless the collector is wise and conservative, this increasing and generally expensive taste is apt to degen- erate into a mere collecting and accumulating habit. His li- brary will grow in books and manuscripts without really stimulating him to study and digest the historical material in store. It seems but a single step from collecting historical works and manuscripts to collecting letters of historic or biograph- ic value ; and soon thereafter, unless the victim calls a halt, ther^ is great danger of drifting into that absorbing state of crankiness which leads the collector to devote time, money, and valuable enthusiasm to gathering, classifying, and treasuring commonplace letters, notes, receipts, indeed scraps of paper, merely because they have been signed by men famous in history or literature, or in the musical or dra- matic world. ^\ ^«L. Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. 3 There is no true love of history or historical research, and little benefit to the collector, in the accumulation of an autograph collection, unless the historic, biographic, or lit- erary value of the material is uppermost in his mind; and unless he makes a specialty of securing manuscripts and letters relating to some particular field of research or litera- ture, the result will prove disappointing, and will degenerate into the mere dissipation of collecting. A collection of mis- cellaneous letters or literary curios, as a rule, must be of lit- tle value. The intelligent collector will also draw the line against the mere signatures of even famous characters. They should be assigned to the souvenir class. Unhappily, the enthusiastic collector sometimes becomes so fascinated by his hobby that he proceeds to exhaust his store of postage stamps in writing to noted people begging for autographs. Ah, this is desecration ! The true disciple and lover of historic and literary treasures will scorn to con- >. descend to such malpractice. Think of a fellow having the nerve to indite an epistle to Queen Victoria, the Empress of 0= oe ^ India, in these words: "Please kindly send me your auto- graph, and oblige a great admirer. Inclosed find postage 5? stamp." And yet the good Queen rewarded an acquaint- •f> ance of mine by having her secretary send' him an apparent- o ly genuine signature. Some years since I was looking through a friend's auto- graph portfolio, and came across a letter from John For- § syth, the distinguished editor. I suppose my friend had ^ written for his autograph in the usual way, inclosing a post- g age stamp. His characteristic reply was in the following ui words: 2f Mobile, Ala. H Mr. .• O yes! You are one of those d d fools who are al- < ways bothering people about their autographs. Here's mine. John Forsyth. Tennyson, the poet laureate, was often annoyed by the autograph cranks, but he rarely rewarded them. One wom- an is said to have begged him so many times for a sentiment and signature that he finally wrote the words, "Ask me no more," as a sentiment. Kipling, it is said, frequently 461452 4 Autograph Collections and Historic Afanuscripts. charges for his autographs and turns the money over to some convenient charity. Paderewski, the pianist, was kind enough to write on the parchment of a banjo sent to him with the request for a musical sentiment: "I have not the pleasure of being a performer upon this beautiful instru- ment. I am only a piano player. J. I. Paderewski." A banker in Austin, Tex., as I learn, is making a most remarkable and ambitious attempt at autograph-collecting. Sometime since I received a polite note from him asking me to aid him in securing letters of my grandfather and uncle. I was surprised at the inquiry, but subsequently learned that he was actually making a systematic effort to obtain the let- ters of all persons whose names appear in Appleton's Cyclo- pedia of Biography, a work of six large volumes, including, I suppose, nearly as many names as a New York City Di- rectory. Think of the labor of such an enterprise ! I hear that he he has already accumulated a vast store of letters and documents and has systematically arranged and classi- fied them. Scholars and lovers of literature in Tennessee and the Southwest seem to have shown little disposition to collect and treasure literary and historical mementos, letters, and docu- ments, as few collectors are known. Mr. Joseph S. Carels, of Nashville, Librarian of the Tennessee Historical Society, has a notable collection of autograph letters, to which he has devoted a half century of industry, enthusiasm, and system. Its gems may be found in some of the glass cases of the His- torical Society rooms. His collection embraces letters of all the Presidents of the United States and of all the Governors of Tennessee. Letters of emperors, kings, and queens are also plentiful. One of the oldest royal letters is that of Charles L, of England, written in 1530, three hundred and seventy-one years ago. The Tennessee Historical Society is also the fortunate possessor of a large and rare collection of autographic ma- terial in manuscripts, letters, and documents. Probably the collection of no State Society in the South can rival it, excepting that of the Virginia Historical Society. Theodore Autogra-ph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. 5 Roosevelt, in preparing the "Winning of the West," found the archives of the Tennessee Historical Society a veritable treasury of pioneer history. Scores of letters of Jackson, Sevier, Blount, Robertson, Donelson, Polk, and other public men of Tennessee, are filed away there, as also a most interesting letter of Abraham Lincoln. The Socie- ty also possesses the original commission of Gen. Israel Put- nam, of the Revolution, and Gen. Nathaniel Greene's mil- itary cipher book. Among its manuscripts are the original records of Washington County, Tenn., beginning with the proceedings of the first county court in 1778; the original records of the State of Franklin of the year 1786; and the original journal kept by Col. John Donelson, one of the founders of the city of Nashville, of his historic voyage down the Tennessee River through the Indian country to the Ohio River, and up the Cumberland to the settlement at Nashville. It is entitled, " Journal of a voyage intended by God's permission in the good boat 'Adventure,' from Fort Patrick Henry on the Holston River. Kept by John Donel- son, Dec. 22, 1779." My own portfolio of autographs came mainly by inheritance, of'd chances, and good luck. My grandfather, Judge Buck- ner Thi-uston, a native of Virginia, was in official life, and a resident of Washington City for a half century or more. He was one of the first United States Senators from the State of Kentucky, a colleague of Henry Clay; was Federal Judge of Orleans Territory; and, later, for thirty-six years Judge of the United States District Court at Washington. His in- teresting and varied correspondence happened to fall,into my hands. While visiting my aunt in Washington, soon after I left college, she suggested that I might find something of interest in his old papers, packed away in a trunk in an attic room. I was soon at work, and it was nearing midnight before I left the dusty old trunk. Averitable epistolary bonan- za I found there; material enough, indeed, to give the auto- graph fever to any youngster fond of books and with a taste for things antiquarian. Unhappily I was too young and too ignorant to value properly the manuscripts and documents, 6 Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. and I devoted my search mainly to letters from men whom I happened to know were prominent in public life. A second gift of letters and papers of considerable value fortunately came to me through an uncle, a retired rear admiral in the navy, who had spent his official life of sixtj^ years in Wash- ington, when not at sea or abroad. This double series of letters and papers included autograph letters of nearly all the Presidents of the United States and men well known in public life at Washington during three- quarters of a century. Letters from Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, and Kentuckians were most numerous. There were several from Edward Livingston, Albert Gallatin, Bush- rod and Lawrence Washington, Francis Scott Key, Webster, Calhoun, Gen. Henry Lee, C. J. Ingersoll, Admiral Farragut, Edward Everett, Tom Corwin, and the lesser lights of public and social life at the national capital and elsewhere. Henry Clay's letters, written in a clear and pleasant style, were mainly devoted to social and business matters. In a letter from Pittsburg, in 1810, he wrote that he had hurried on to that point ahead of his family, "to arrange to descend ,the Ohio," and that he had left at a neighbor's "some im- portant papers, reports, and maps, and an old pair of sherry- vallies, such as the sarcastic pen of Gen. Lee had defended against the wanton malevolence of Miss Franks. Please be good enough to send for them, and have them cared for until my return." Sherry vallies ? What are sherr3'^vallies? Upon examining the Century Dictionary, I find that a humble pair of leggings bore that high-sounding title in pioneer da3'^s. In a characteristic note Daniel Webster writes: "Will you dine with me on Saturday at 4 o'clock — a sort of bachelor dinner with two or three friends? Did you ever eat a ' Dun fish?'" I presume a "Dun fish" must have made a palata- ble dish, as tradition tells us that the great Daniel was de-" voted to his stomach as well as to his country. There is a four-page letter from John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, written in 1820, to my uncle, the Libra- rian of the State Department at Washington, giving detailed instructions for arranging and conducting the library. No Autograph Collectiotis and Historic Manuscripts. 7 one was better qualified to write such a letter than this book- loving, system-loving old New Englander. He seems to have been laying the foundation of the present fine library of the State Department. A long letter" of John C. Calhoun's, written in 1844, harps on the subject generally uppermost in his mind. "It is a great mistake," he says, '*with many, both north and west, that South Carolina is hostile to the Union as it came from the hands of its framers. But she believes that the Union may be destroyed as well by consolidation as by dissolution ; and that of the two there is much more danger of the former than the latter," etc. Among the papers in my portfolio I find a written agree- ment signed in 1835 ^7 Francis Scott Key, author of the " Star-Spangled Banner," for the purchase of a negro slave. The agreement begins as follows: "Whereas Judge Thrus- ton and myself have agreed to purchase a slave named Ste- phen Clark from his master, Samuel Hamilton, of Maryland, for the price of six hundred dollars, for the purpose of ena- bling said slave to obtain his freedom by paying up the pur- chase money and interest as he shall be able to do by his earn- ings from time to time," etc. Worthy and capable slaves were frequently purchased in those days by their white friends to enable them to buy their freedom by their labor. My collection of books, autographs, and papers, begun in my youth, was supplemented in later years by many addi- tions. The epoch-making years of the civil war, of course, brought rare opportunities to an army officer with a predi- lection for preserving, and sometimes perhaps for confisca- ting, historic souvenirs. A few of them may be of general interest. After nearly two years of hard and dangerous service with my regiment, I was promoted to staff duty among the magnates of the Union army in Tennessee. While with Gen. Rosecrans, after the battle at Murfrees- boro, as his senior aid-de-camp, it became my pleasant duty to copy many of his important official and semiofficial let- ters. The kind old General wrote hastily and forcibly, but with many interlineations and erasures. The original letters 8 Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. occasionally fell into my hands, instead of the wastebasket or the office file. This was during the time of Gen. Rose- crans's rather heated controversy with Gen. Halleck at Washington, in which Gen. Garfield, our chief of staff and messmate, unhappily became later involved. Here is the first draft of one of Gen. Rosecrans's sharp letters to Gen. Halleck. I copied it at the time, and I find it in my file : MuRFREESBORO, Feb. I, 1863. Major General Halleck, Washington: I am surprised that you mistake my meaning. I do not complain; I point the way to victory. I tell you how I think force is to be created at slight expense. This war will demand such considerations, and many more, to save the waste of human life. Already our thinned regiments testify to this, and show no substantial gain from re- cruiting. I wish to be distinctly understood as making no compiaints. The great point I make is, the government pays the cost of cavalry troops, with- out getting the benefit of their strength. The other is that, no matter what the government has done or left un- done for this army, policy and duty alike demand means to meet the com- ing emergency. Why should the Rebels control the country which, with its resources, would belong to our army, because it can muster the small per- centage of six or eight thousand more cavalry than we.'' I want superior arms to supply the place of numbers. Give revolving rifles in place of pis- tols. We must have cavalry arms, and the difference between the best and the worst is more than one hundred per cent on the daily cost of the troops. £xcuse my earnestness in this matter. I probably see more clearly than I can explain. W. S. Rosecrans, Major General. In my list I find the original draft of an order written and signed by Gen. W. T. Sherman, at Fayetteville, N. C, March 12, 1865, announcing to his army that his forces had reached the sea a second time, that he was in commu- nication with Wilmington, and would soon receive supplies by river from that city. An original letter from Gen. George H. Thomas may prove of interest. It will be remembered that a Provisional Legislature met at Nashville soon after the war to reestab- lish civil government in Tennessee. It was largely com- posed of members loyal to the Federal Union and Republic- an in politics. Parson Brownlow was Governor. Gen. Thomas commanded the Military Department and the Fed- eral forces. During the reconstruction period, and in ac- cordance with the formal acts of the Legislature of Tennes- Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. 9 see, large, life-size portraits of Gen. Thomas and Gov. Brownlow were ordered to be painted and hung in the Library at the Capitol, where they may still be seen. By legislative enactment, also, an artistic gold medal was for- mally presented to Gen. Thomas. By and by, however, a change came. The Confederates were enfranchised, and the Democrats and Confederates soon got control of the Legislature and State administration. Thereupon some rad- ical member proceeded to offer resolutions condemning the pictures and threatening to have them removed from the Capitol and sold at public auction. The incident, of course, got into the newspapers and soon came to the notice of Gen. Thomas, then commanding the Department of the Pacific. "Old Pap Thomas," as his soldiers called him, was a Virginian of the old school, and a gentleman to the very core. He was greatly annoyed by the uncomplimentary resolution. In a letter to me from Cal- ifornia in November, 1869, he writes: The portrait was not painted at my desire. If I had known the Legis- lature was contemplating having it done, I should have asked some of my friends there to stop the proceeding. The first I knew of it, as well as of the medal, was after they had been decided upon, and, presuming they had passed the resolution after due deliberation, concluded it would be better to assent cheerfully than attract public attention by declining. You can assure the members of the Legislature that I am the last man in the United States who would be willing to impose on any person or com- monwealth, and that I, through you, propose to return to the State the gold medal ordered to be struck and presented to me by the Legislature as com- memorative of my services and of the troops under me. I also stand ready to refund to the State treasury the amount expended for my portrait, etc. Soon afterwards I showed the letter to the newly elected Governor, John C. Brown, one of the best and ablest men in the State. As I expected, he kindly requested me to let the incident pass without further notice, and said that he would see that the uncomplimentary action proposed would meet the same fate. During my long residence in Nashville a number of inter- esting letters and papers have drifted into my hands. I find in my portfolio three promissory notes written and signed by John Bell, the statesman, in August, 1861. They called lo Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. for the payment of several hundred dollars. Soon after the close of the war they were sent to me for collection. He was not able to pay them, of course, nor did I ever mention them to him. Dear old John Bell, whose memory they re- call, was one of our great Tennesseeans — indeed, one of the great men of the nation. Unhappily his spirit and fortune were crushed by the sad realities of the Civil War. He could scarcely tell which he loved best — the South or the Union. He died soon afterwards. His heart must have been broken in the intensity of the struggle. I have also a letter of some interest from David Crockett to President Jackson. The President is addressed as *'The Excellency, the President of the United States." But to return to the recent public sale of autographs in Philadelphia I have mentioned. The prices obtained, I think, must have been in the main disappointing. Some days there was a regular slaughter of the heroes. Military magnates, statesmen, presidents, orators, kings and queens, poets and actors, all fell under the auctioneer's hammer at trifling prices. Sometimes the letters or papers of persons comparatively unknown brought very high figures, owing to contests fCmong the bidders, or the desire perhaps of some descendant to possess them. The two names that usually command the highest prices at autograph auctions are those of Washington and Lincoln. As is well known, Washington was a painstaking and volu- minous letter writer. There seems no end to his genuine letters and papers. At the recent sales they brought good, standard prices — from $25 to $100. I have a good military letter of Washington's written at Army Headquarters in 1778, and addressed to " Thomas Wharton, Esquire, Presi- dent of the State of Pennsylvania." It seems that the title of Governor was adopted later. Ben Franklin once had the honor of being '* President and Commander-in-Chief of the State of Pennsylvania." At the sale Lincoln's letters brought from $17 to $50. These letters are rarely on the market. Lincoln was such an earnest character that all his letters seem worth saving. Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. ii They are generally filed away in the hands of his biographers and friends. The only autographic souvenir I have of the martyred President consists of a few words on the back of a note written by my stepfather to him in 1861 and indorsed : " I will call in fifteen minutes. Lincoln." A letter of President John Adams sold at the sale for $27.50. Jefferson's letters brought from $7 to $10. He was a ready writer on many subjects, and had a large cor- respondence. Letters of Ben Franklin brought from $20 to $25, a manuscript $79. They are rare. A letter of Paul Jones, the hero of our navy, brought $70; one of Benedict Arnold, $45 ; a letter of President Zach Taylor, $22.50. A letter of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, brought $96. The letter was written in London in 1681 and seems pro- phetic. He wrote that he is about to start for America, and predicts its glorious future: "Mine eye is to a blessed government, and a virtuous, ingenious, and industrious soci- ety, so as people may live well and have more time to serve ye Lord than in this crowded land. God will plan America and it will have its day in ye kingdom," etc. Letters of President Taylor, William Henry Harrison, and Andrew Johnson are very rare. A letter of Harrison's brought $17.50. He was President but about a month, and wrote few letters. Johnson learned to write late in life, and had a very limited correspondence. At the sale letters of President Jackson brought from $3 to $15. It seems that Jackson must have written nearly as miany letters as Wash- ington. His letters, like his state papers, are forcible and characteristic. The popular idea of the severity of the old General's nature is disproved by his correspondence, especially by his letters to his friends and the members of his family. Many of them are full of kindness, sometimes even of tenderness. They also show, culture and refinement as well as force. I have one letter that contains a ridiculous error in the way of spelling — a letter to the Hon. James K. Polk, Speaker of the House of Representatives, whom he addresses as ** Col. Poke," manifestly a piece of careless- ness on Jackson's part. 12 Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. In my list of letter writers I find the poorest speller is the great cavalry general, Bedford Forrest. There are more than a dozen errors in spelling in a half-page letter writ- ten by him. He beat Davy Crockett as a misspeller. He wrote a good letter, however, with force and directness, but simply ignored the rules of Webster and Worcester and spelled "any old way," according to sound and conven- ience, just as he ignored all military rules in fighting. Gen. Forrest was fortunately endowed by nature with a genius and personality that overcame all obstacles, even the lack of an early education. At the Philadelphia sale President Polk's letters brought fro'm four to five dollars. Letters of Presidents Fillmore, Pierce, Tyler, Van Buren, and Buchanan brought the low- est prices, as they are still plentiful and easily obtained. A letter of President Grant's brought $12.50. Letters of Presi- dents Hayes, Garfield, and Ben Harrison brought from six to eight dollars. Strange to report, the letters of the series of Moderators of the early Presbyterian General Assemblies, sold at the sale in Philadelphia, averaged in price nearly as much as the letters of the Presidents of the United States — from $3 to $23. One series brought $76. Philadelphia is one of the great centers of Presbyterianism. Some years ago, noticing in a catalogue that autograph let- ters of two of my Presbyterian ancestors were to be sold at Philadelphia — letters of Jonathan Dickinson, the first Presi- dent of Princeton College, A.D. 1746, and of William C. Houston, delegate from New Jersey to the Convention that framed the Constitution of the United States — I sent to the auctioneer, Mr. Henkels, a bid of $5 for each letter, thinking that I should probably get them. Imagine my surprise and innocence when he wrote me after the sale that "Dickin- son's sold for $75 and Houston's for $40," figures away be- yond our Southwestern ideas of values. At the recent sales the autograph letters and documents of the great kings and queens of history fared about as well as the series of the Presidents. A document signed by Queen Elizabeth of England sold for $15 ; a letter signed by Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscri-pts. 13 Frederick the Great, for $10. Letters of Henry of Navar- re, Empress Josephine, and Marie Antoinette, each brought $10. One signed by Napoleon Bonaparte, $16; a docu- ment, $9. A Louis Napoleon letter brought $9. A letter of Emperor Charles V., A.D. 1500, brought $15. A docu- ment signed by Oliver Cromwell in 1650 sold for $50; letters of George IIL, $9. The good Queen Victoria had a long reign, and signed thousands of letters and papers. These sold for from $4 to $5. A letter of Gladstone's, $9, had double the market value of the Queen's. In my collection I have a handsome commission signed by ♦'Victoria Reg." in 1867, with four royal seals stamped upon it. I have also a letter of the Duke of Wellington. It seems surprising that the letters and documents of the fa- mous kings and queens are constantl}' on the market at au tograph sales. The dealers in the large cities trade in them, and I suspect they are generally commonplace documents or letters signed, and of no special intrinsic or historic value. Most of them must be classed as autographic souvenirs. Letters of the prominent generals of the civil war brought widely varying prices at the recent sales. Letters of Gen. Grant, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Gen. Thomas J. Jackson are always favorites and bring good prices, especially if they have some historic value. A good war letter of Jack- son's brought $15; one of Lee's, $7.50. A letter of Gen. Sheridan, written to Grant on the eve of Appomattox, brought $20. A letter of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart sold for $5; one of Admiral Farragut's, for $4.50. Merel)'^ common- place letters and notes of the most distinguished generals brought less than a dollar. A good military letter of Gen. Nathaniel Greene's, of the American Revolution, written in 1777, was sold for $21, while the next item at the sale, a paper merely signed by Gen. Greene, brought but ten cents — a very just discrimination as to values. A fine letter of Maj. Gen. Charles Lee, of the Revolu- tion, at one time second in command to Gen. Washington, brought $65. Lee was much more brilliant as a writer than he was as a general. His ill temper ^nd jealousy of Gen. 461452 14 Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts . Washington brought him finally into disgrace. After the war he settled in Virginia. My great-grandfather, Col. Charles M. Thruston, an officer of the Revolution, was one of his executors. His remarkable will, published in his memoirs, is often quoted. Among other provisions, it contains the following unique clause; "I desire most earnestly that I may not be buried in any church or churchyard, or within a mile of any Presbyterian or Anabaptist meetinghouse ; for since I have resided in this country I have kept so much bad company when living that I do not chuse to continue it when dead." In the will he bequeathed fifty guineas to Col. Thruston, as he states, " in consideration of his good quali- ties and the friendship he has manifested for me; and to Buckner Thruston, his son, I leave all my books, as I know he will make good use of them." Some of these books of Gen. Lee's came to me by inheritance, and I now have them in my library. I have also in my library two original general order books kept b}' Capt. Phillips, of the Second New Jersey Regiment, one of my ancestors, during the Revolutionary War. - The orders were entered each day as they came from army head- quarters. The first entry was a brigade order announcing Gen. Anthony Wayne's victory at Stony Point: Headquarters, Wyoming, 25 July, 1779. The General congratulates the army upon the glorious and important in- telligence just received from his excellency General Washington's head- quarters in a letter, as follows: "Headquarters, New Windsor, 16 July, 1779. " Permit me to congratulate you upon the success of our arms in this quarter of a most glorious and interesting nature. Brigade General Wayne, with a part of the light infantry, surprised and took prisoners the whole of the garrison of Stony Point, last night, with all the cannon, stores, mortars, how- itzers, tents, baggage, etc., without the loss of more than four killed," etc. Among other old documents I have an original parchment deed, or warrant, signed at Mobile, Ala., in 1773, by E. Durnford, " Governor and Captain General of his Majesty's forces in West Florida," conveying a tract of land in Mis- sissippi. A handsome wax seal, five inches in diameter and stamped with the British arms, is attached to the document. Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. 15 It was signed before the Revolutionary War and during the very brief period in which England held authority in West Florida. The deed appears to be unique, as no similar one is known, even at Mobile. I have also in my library a well-preserved manuscript book of the thirteenth century, beautifully written and illustrated. But returning again to the Philadelphia autograph sales, there were a few literary gems that sold for good prices. A good letter of Walt Whitman's brought $16 ; a letter of Oliver WendellHolmes's, $12.50. The latter contained a verse from his fine poem, the ''Pilgrim's Vision," read at the Plymouth anniversary: The weary Pilgrim slumbers, His resting place unknown, His hands were crossed, his lids were closed, The dust was o'er him strewn; The drifting soil, the moldering leaf, Along the sod were blown; His mound has melted into earth, His memory lives alone. Autograph verses of Longfellow and Whittier brought $8 each; a letter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, $17; one of Wash- ington Irving's, $6. As a rule, the recent sales indicate that while the average prices, especially of commonplace things, were low, there are still collectors who are willing to pay full and even fancy prices for historical manuscripts of real value, for literary gems, for autograph verses of the great poets, and for signed fragments of great music. It seems that history, sentiment, fancy, and ability to pay, all enter largely into autograph values. The scarcity of an autograph is sometimes its most valuable quality. While a good military letter of Gen. Robert E. Lee brought but $7.50 at the Philadelphia sale, his letter to Gen. Winfield Scott in 1861, resigning his commission in the United States army, easily brought $500 at the Donald- son sale; a memorandum of the plan of campaign in 1861, in the autograph of President Lincoln, brought $520; and a letter of Gen. Sherman to Gen. Grant, outlining the Atlanta campaign, brought $49. i6 Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts. We are often surprised at the prices paid at the European sales. Think of an offer of a hundred thousand dollars for a single autograph! That amount was offered, we are told in one of the London papers, for a genuine signature of Shakespeare. The ambitious bidder is not likely to part with his money, however, as it is said there are none on the market. The British Museum paid some $16,000 for its specimen, years ago. The Spanish government paid $5,000 for a Columbus autograph. Two letters of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, written just before her execution, brought the large sum of four thousand pounds sterling. At the latest autograph and manuscript sales in London, a lot of letters of Walter Scott brought $1,500 (in English money); a page of the "Newcomes," in the autograph of Thackeray, $105; a letter of Robert Burns, containing a verse of poetry, $290; letters of David Garrick, $2,225; ^ portion of the ancient manuscripts belonging to the famous Ashburton Library, $156,000. If you should wish to pos- sess the scrap of a letter or an autographic memento of Ad- dison, or Thomas Gray, or Samuel Johnson, the old-time lights of English literature, it would cost you from $25 to $100; more, indeed, than a letter of the English sovereign who reigned in their day. The music lovers also seem to have money as well as sen- timent, if we may judge from the way they are victimized at the sales. A letter of Mendelssohn's brought $8.50 at the Philadelphia sale; a letter of old Johann Strauss, $8. At the late London sale — think of it — "the manuscript of the trombone parts of the ninth symphony, in the autograph of Beethoven," brought $225; a musical manuscript of Schu- bert, $165 ; and at the latest Paris autograph sale, a letter of Mozart sold for 460 francs ($92), the highest price realized at the sale, though the letters of Napoleon, Gambetta, and other great men came under the auctioneer's hammer. It seems that the army of collectors is still at large, and that the real autographic gems and masterpieces of history, literature, and music will continue to command sentimental prices in the markets of the world. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below Form L-f 23m-10,'41(2191) THE LIBRAJ?"' v'i?.T?5?TTY OF C/ )S ANC Z41 T41a Thruston - , Autograph collections and histor- i c manusc r ipbb«