The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1899-08-05
HAS r "a RE Ell TITO NS.
MIR. WIN. PRICE DETERMINES ~ 8
TO SELL HIS COLLECTION

Autographs Of Great Me- characteristic
Letters Written ~ Dickens. Boswell,
Foote, Edmund Kean, 1rrs. siddons,
Thackeray and voltaire.
Mr.. William Wright Of Paris, about
equally well known to book collectors
and to sporting men Of the two coun-
tries, has determined to sell his collec-
ton Of autograph letters, his library
and his engraved and other portraits,
says the. London :Athenaeum. In many
respects this is the choicest collection
of It's kind which has come into the
market within recent years and it will
occupy Messrs. Sotheby seven days IN
all, beginning on June u. Mr.. Wright
has apparently never experienced the
luxury Of self-denial in the matter OF
books, for, as he himself says, price
never frightened me- if any particular
book was wanted. A glance through
his catalogue will largely bear out this
frank admission, for it contains many
volumes for which the average collector
would commit any number Of sins.
The three great attractions among the
books are the extra illustrated lives OF
Dickens, Kean and Garrick. Few books
Of recent years have been more fire.
quently grangerized than Forster's
Life of Dickens but no example OF
this species of bookmaking can be COM
pared with Mr. Wright's. The three
octave volumes are inlaid and extended
to twelve volumes folio and comprise
119 autograph letters of Dickens him
| self and nearly 400 others of contempt
raries. There are 545 portraits of lit
erary and other celebrities, 200 views
of places connected with Dickens or his
works, play-bills and a thousand and
one other Dickensiana. 49, 4 IT,
The copy of Hawkins sLife Of Kean"
is extended from two octave to eight
folio volumes by the insertion Of about
800 letters, 225 autograph letters, 200
rare playbills, caricatures, etc. Barry
CORVALLIS Life of gKean''' is also ex-
tensively extra ILLUSTRATED. Davies
Life Of. David Garrick'' is similarly
illustrated and contains $50 rare
portraits, 100 autograph letters, play
bills, pamphlets and great variety of
other matter. The collections and ex-
tra-illustrated books relating to the old
pleasure gardens Of London, theaters
and eminent actors and actresses are
too long to be specially mentioned, but
all appear to have been done with thor
oughness. The works illustrated by
George Cruikshank extend from lot II
to lot 2S2 and form a series that has
rarely been equaled. The Dickens lots
are over 230 in number and include, be-
sides Forster's Life already men
toned, the original autograph MS. OF
.tThe Battle of Life" one of the three
manuscripts Of Dickens now in private
hands. There are about eighty lots OF
works illustrated by T. Rowlandson,
and nearly that number of Thackeray
entries, including '.The Second Funeral
of Napoleon" 1871.
But if Mr.. Wright was successful as
a book collector it is difficult to find an
as collector of autographs. These
alone will occupy three days in selling
and extend from lot 1904 to lot 1925.
The series of Garrick letters, sixty
four in all, and nearly every one of i'm
portance, is probably the finest since
that extraordinary series Of forty eight
unpublished letters of his came under
the hammer at Puttick's on Dec II,
1849, nearly fifty years ago. Mr..
Wright's series is to be offered at one
lot at the reserve price of G400-a lit
tile over f6 per letter-and if that sum
be not reached they will then be offered
separately. It would now be quite i'm
possible to form another series Of such
| great interest, and one"cannot help ex-
pressing the hope that these letters
may. be secured en- bloc for the club
which bears Garrick' sfname.
r. The majority Of the other letters are
of actors and actresses Of eminence in
their day, but many are from literary
celebrities. There are three from Bos-
well, of which two5were written to Gar
rick; several are from Dickens, thirteen
from Foote, mostly addressed to the
Delavals; a number from Mrs. David
Garrick, thirteen are" from Samuel
Johnson, and nearly the same number
(most of them from the Kean sale of
last season. from Edmund Kean;, sew
enteens from Mrs. Siddonis, and others
are from George Stevens Thackeray,
Vo1taire and Horace Wa1pole, to men
ton only a very small number. **t# s +
It is impossible to do more than in
dictate the, richness OF, this collection of
autograph letters, from nearly all Of
which the catalogue will give reasona-
bly, full extracts. Mr. Wright's aim
has apparently been not, merely to OBJ
tain a signed document Of this or that
celebrity, but to secure characteristic
letter mportant from its contents as
well as interesting on account Of its
signature. In this respect he has sun-
doubtedly been extraordinarily success
full. @s.= :: ITS IS Ss:<= ..5.. s=9