Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1899-06-29
HAS RARE EDITION.
MT. wa. PRICE E-T-REiEEs
TO SELL HIS COLLECTION
Autographs OF Great .ien--cha- aeferis'ic
Letters written By Dickens,
Foote. Edmund Ks,sT. AArs. siaaois'
Thaekeray and yoliairc.

Mr.. William Wright OF Ears scca
equally well known 10 book ecl.ee>-
and to sporting men OF tie ~ c>u1
tries. has determined TO sell b. co-e
ton OF autograph letters, his hbraE
and his engraved and ether psTt-eisz'
SAYS the London A~thenaeLnl In many
respects this is the choicest cca,stion
OF its kind which has c3ne iai2 =
market within recent years aGd y Wa
occupy Messrs. Sotheby seven Gays III
all. beginning on June Il. ar. aFig-
has apparently never experienced the
luxury of s~elf-denial in the matter OF
books. for. as he himself says, price
never frightened ne" il any particular
book was wanted. 4 glance thTcagA
his catalogue viii largely bear a t11s
frank admission. for II contains maay
volumes for which the average collector
would commit any number or SINS
The three great attractions among tne
books are the extra illustrated lives OF
Dickens. Kean and Garrick. Few books
of recent years have been more ire
ouentlr grangerlzed than Forsters
"Life OF Dickens" but no example u
this species OF bookmaking can be OH
pared With Mr.. Wright's. me three
octave volumes are inlaid and EXTENDED
to twelve volumes folio and comprise
lis autograph letters of Dickens MINI
self and nearly 400 others OF contempt
raries. There are 545 portraits OF NJ
erary and other celebrities, zoo views
OF places connected with Dickens or MS
works. play-bills and a thousand and
one other D~ickensiana.
The copy OF Hawkins Life OF kean
is extended from we octave 10 eight
folio volumes by the insertion OF ABOUT
$50 letters. 225 autograph letters, zoo
rare playbills, ca~ricatures, etc. Barry
CornwalI's Life Of Kean" is also ex-
tensiyely extra-illustrated. Davies
Life of David Garrick" is similarly
extra-illustrated and contains 300 rare
portraits. 100 autograph letters, play
bills. pamphlets and a great variety OF
other matter. The collections n ex-
tra-illustrated books relating 10 the ola
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 ~
TO lot go and form a series that has
rarely been equaied. The Dickens lots
are over go in number ard include, be-
sides Forster's Life" already men
toned. the original autograph Ms. oil
.The 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" IS41.
But If Mr.. Wright was successful as
asbook collector il is difficult to find an
epithet which would fully describe hin
as a collector Of autographs. These
alone will occupy three days in selling
and extend from lot l.064 to lot l,525.
The series of Garrick letters, sixty
tour 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. IL,
lSi9, nearly fifty years ago. Mr..
Wright's series is TO be offered at one
lot at the reserve price OF ei00-a lit
tie over f6 per letter-and IL that sum
be not reached they viii her be offered
separately. Ii 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's name.
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 W were 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
enteep from Mrs. Siadons. and Others
are from George Stevens, Thackeray,
Vcltaire and Horace walpole, 10 men
ton only a very small number.
1t is impossible TO do more than in.
dicate the richness OF this collection OF
autograph letters. from nearly all OF
which the catalogue viii give reasons.
bly, full extracts. Mr.. Wright's aim
!, has apparently been not merely to oh.
tain a signed document of this or tina,
celebrity. but 10 secure a characteristic
letter important from It's contents as
well as interesting on account OF il,
signature. In this respect he has un.
, doubleday been extraordinarily success.
full