The evening world., 1888-10-04
THE COLLECTING OF AUTOGRAPHS.
IL Has Become Almost n Mania with some
Some Valuable Collections.

Tn mania for collecting autographs is very
strong ut present, and those printed in The
EVENING WORLD from day to day lend addi-
tional interest to it. 1t hardly seems right
TO call it q mania, because, although with
many it may be simply a passing amusement,
the real autograph collector is serious and
earnest and has IL purpose.
The handwriting is generally thought to
be an indication of the character of the
writer, and there are many who will pretend
to tell what sort of n person the writer was.
arguing from his chirography. This is true
to a certain extent, but aside from this is
the feeling which makes people like 70 see
places associated with distinguished people.
Moreover, the true autograph lover Is not
contented witt the mere signature. He
wishes to have q letter or some document
signed by the PERSONS name. These letters
often contain some pleasant or important bit
OF historical Information.
At oil events. autograph collecting is the
rage at present in this country, and has u
magazine devoted to the interests of collec-
tors. II is called the Collector. and is edited
by Walter Roineyn BENJAMIN. 1t is pub
lished monthly, and the subscription is the
very moderate one of 81.
- American collectors said Mr.. Benja-
min to an EVENING WORLD reporter, = are
most eager to get political autographs. The
amount of war matter that has been pub
lished has helped TO arouse an interest in
the prOmuent generals and officials.
The Presidents written names and letters
are collected, and the autographs of their
Cabinets, Andrew Johnson's autograph is
the hardest to get of any of the Presidents.
He had a lame arm and wrote II miserable
hand, so he used TO get his son to do most of
his writing for HIM. His autograph brings
more than George Washington's, which is
not very dihicult to obtain. The price of an
autograph is determined greatly by the diff
Guilty of getting it. A letter is Of much more
value than the mere signature.
Thomas Lynch. jr. is tho hardest auto
graph to get there is.
Only one letter of his is known to be ex-
tant. Yet he was one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence. One of the
best known collectors of autographs in the
city, gave a collection of autographs for this
letter of Lynch's, and the collection was af-
forwards sold for 2 1900"
a rich collection of autographs will soon
come into the morket-that of Robert Coul-
ton Davis, of Philadelphia, who died last
month. He had complete sets of Presidents
and their wives. all the Cabinets of the diff
ferent Presidents, signers of the Federal
Constitution and members of the Hartford
Convention.
G. p. Gunther, of Chicago, is another en-
thusiastic collector who has spent thousands
OF dollars for letters and signatures of celeb
rites. Probably DR.. Emmet's collection is
the finest in the country. He will collect
the autographs of all the persons mentioned
in an historical work, and have them bound
into the volume. This is an excellent way OF
encouraging autographs, although an expen-
sive one, Mr.. Gunther intends to bestow his
collection ultimately on the city of Chicago.
1t is a matter of interest even to those who
do not collect autographs to see the way Ill
WHICH the prominent men in different walks
Of life wrote their names. TuE EVENING
WORLD Will print the fac-SimileS of the auto
graphs of the most distinguished men of the
country. AS the price of autographs ranges
from hundreds of dollars down to 81, a good
collection supposes quite an outlay. DIR.
Emmet's fine collection is probably worth
nearly 800, coo.
Stonewall jackson. John Wilkes Booth,
Henry Wirz, the notorious Andersonville
prison-keeper, are all hard to get autoe raphs
of. The readers of The EVENING WORLD viii
have no difficulty in making their collection
as there will be one for several days in each
edition of the paper. 1t is n scheme which il
likely to be of interest to many.