Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-08-23
AUTOGRAPH LETTERS.
Some Prices Paid Are Fabulous, but Many
Signatures Go Dirt Cheap.

Certain noisy politicians who run away
with the idea that they are very eminent
men, should certainly not omit to read
the catalogues of those who deal in auto
graph letters.
True, it is difficult to account for some
of the prices. The catalogue of Mr..
Davey, of Great Russell street, affords
some very noteworthy instances. Here,
for example, an autograph note, signed
and addressed envelope, of Sarah Bern
hardt, is only valued at 49,, while
guineas are asked for one of Boswelrs,
which is only one and quarter pages
quarto size. One Of Lord Byron's, a
quarto page in all, is offered at II guineas;
but one of Coleridge is only e2, and for
IS. more may be had one of De Quincy,
regarding his money troubles, to his pub
Usher. Poets and authors always abuse
their publishers when "fush," and as
often fall back upon them when hard up
A letter of Dickens 1850 is priced at 81
12s. 3d., one from Lord Beaconsfeld at
81 10s., one from David Garrick at "a,
and one from Frederick the Noble' at a
quarter of that sum.
If man have plenty of half guineas
he may become the owner of number
of more or less famous autograph let
tiers. One of these coins, of their cur
rent value, will put you in possession of
letter of William Goodwin or Of Gou-
nod, of Charles Kean or of Lever, of
Macready or of Lytton, of Spurgeon or
of Prince Albert Among the luxurles
of which, like the small boy outside
cook shop, the poorer collector must be
content with the shetland scarcely
that-may be enumerated a William
Blake at GO; q Cowper at ga; Queen
Elizabeth at EOS; Thomas Hood at 8
guineas; johnson at e6 Is 3d.; Mary
Queen Of Scots at G5S; a Samuel Rich
ardson (of course to a young LADY, at f6
10s.; and a Dante Gabriel Rosetti for
about GO 3s. An original invitation for
the coronation, sent by command of her
majesty to Lord St John, of Bletso, and
signed "Victoria R is only priced at
GO 5s. A William III is worth G5 los,
but William " is not worth half as
much.
A letter of the Rev George Whitefield,
whose tabernacle appears to be going
"down," is up" at three guineas. From
general point of view it is not easy to
see why letter of William Wordsworth
c'celebrated poet'0 should be priced at
guinea less than that of the author of
Might Thoughts" which no one now
reads, offered at GA Is.
A prophet is not without honor, save
in his own oountry-a fact which
explains the appearance of num-
Der Of English literary men in cata-
logues of autograph letters A letter of
John Forster is offered at rs cents; one
of Mr.. Archibald Forbes for SIPS; one
of Mr.. Austin Dobson at the same price;
at which figure also the collector may
present himself with specimens of w.
C. Bryant, Elihu Burritt, Mr.. Chamber
lain. Golden, Mr.. J. A. Froude ("quite
scarce'o, Wilkie Collins. Garfield, and
many other persons more or less ia
mous-less than more very often.
The prices throughout the we'll ar
ranged catalogue are exceedingly mod.
crate compared with some which we
have seen. One of Mr.. Gladstone's let
tiers (the line appears to be drawn at post
C<tIuSj IHtS TtstCIieu Tile IEADuS Oh the
dealer, who demands "a. SO for it; but one
Of Gordon is priced at IS over and above
that sum; Goethe goes for $40, Shell
ley for four times that amount, and a
Scott for SEQ Mr. Ruskin's shows re-
markable difference, being only $3.50;
but three lines of "a prince of the Sand
wich islands ordering bottle of gin sells
for rs cents A Cardinal Newman is
priced at 81. 25, Mime. PATHS at a dollar
more, one of Lord Randolph Churchill
at Sl.75. one of Horace Greeley at 81 IS.
A Samuel johnson is sold for S37. So
but letter of neither Sir John Lubbock,
Charles Mackay, Professor Mason nor
Mr.. w. D. Howells appears to be worth
more than seventy-five cents A signed
letter of Lord Tennyson, two pages oc-
tavo, Is priced at Sl2.50; and one from
Thackeray with the envelope) at $50.
1t might act as sort of deterrent tc
this craze for private letters if authors
would insist upon being paid pro rata by
their correspondents for every word
which they write in their letters. not
even emitting the address on the enve-
lope, which, when clean, also counts
St. James Gazette,