The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1905-04-13
Costly Signatures

| SosHN S'R0atufees
Among all the autographs ~ c, lehritics
known to be ,Itatt, that Of Shakespeare
u the most rare, ard, therefore, the most
valushle. The one In the British museum
was purchased In 1858 for 81, 800. IL would
I" likely as not, fetch sl50,Oo0 II put up at
auction Tomorrow. Another 10 the Bod
ieisn library at 0xiold was bought ln 1905
for si5 For the specimen In he GuIldhsll
library the sun Of s735 was psid. Both
lhse a'e nov, cicoursc, practically price
lees.
Some years back $3.50 was obtained nc
public auction for the siansiure Of NIcho-
las Brakespeare, the only Epglshman who
ever became pope Of Rome
Miltoh's signatures are extremely rare,
because, being blind, he usually employed
an an anuef sis to sf'lx his autograph TO
all documents. The specimen In tho Brit
sh museum was presented to that iustiiu.
tion by the poet Rogers, who gave $500
for 1t Other supposed signatures have
been sold from time to time for sums vary
ing between soj and 1915; but It is pro-
bable that an authenticated autograph
would fetch ten times the latter figure.
| II Is said that the biggest sum ever paid
for the autograph OF living celebrity was
S3j, which was the amount realized by
letter OF Iennyson's 10 1878.
10 1929 there were purchased for the
British museum four extremely rare auto
graphs-those, namely, OF Martin Luther,
Melsnc,hop, Bugenhegius and Mtjor. The
price WAS 81 ,339 rs, and the authors were
thought TO have made good bargain.
A year or two back letter OF Nell
GywDne to Charles II. changed hands priv.
atelv for $73j. The writing WAS said to be
an almost illegible scrsw., and the sigma
ture was so badly smudged and botted as
to be scarcely deciphersbe.
AT the dispersal Of the famous BsFer col
lection OF autographs letter from Charles
l. to the marquis Of Ormond fetched $50;
one from Prince Rupert to the king S25 30,
and a signature Of Oliver Cromwell's $50.
At the same sale was disposed Of an extre-
mely interesting letter from Lord Stafford
to his wife, written while prisoner In the
tower. This produced S202 80.
Tasso's signature has been sold at var
lous times for sums "a, grg between sl30
and $3.50.
DIR. John ou'' "utLtgfaphs are worth
about $50 to $50 apiece at lbe present mo-
ment. In 1875 ejg''re II them were sold
at auction In London nj an average Of $40
each. But those were mostly signatures
only. At the same sale the fam Qua letter
to Macpherson, In which johnson declared
that he would not be deferred from eN.
posing what he thought to be u cheat by
the menaces ofa rufila,n fetched no less
than $3.50.
In 1888, much to to the astonishment Of
collectors, $500 was given for an autograph
OF Oliver Goldsmith s. Since then many
more have been found, ard the price has
fallen by more than one-hsli.
oaly quite recently signature OF Mol.
iere's changed hands for - 800, biz
price, but, then, less than half dozen OF
his autographs are In existence. while the
whole Of the manuscripts Of his plays have
perished as utterly as have Shakespeares.
Autographs OF the queens Of Henry VII
are very rare. One OF Catherine Of ARA
gon's realized 1915 not long ago. Anne
Boleyn's 10 worth anywhere from $500 TO
81 25O. Anne OF Cleves big, heavy scrswl
has fetched as much as 800.
A short note from Mary Qleen OF Scots
to NJ. de la Motto brought recently $40.
A LITTER Of Sir Walter RaleiRb's, written
while prisoner 10 the tower, realized
$3.50. Two Of Napoleon's scrswls have
been sold for $40 An autograph letter
OF q leen Elizabeth TO King Henry w.,
thanking him for his portrait, fetched
s225.
These prices are for signatures only, or
ordinary short business letters. on courte,
when whole manuscripts 10 great author's
own Handwriting come Into the market
they frequently realize very large sums ir.
ceed.
High-water mark 10 this direction, how.
ever, was probably reached the other day,
when more than s5s 600 WAS paid for the
manuscript ofa portion Of AiltonI para
dise Lost" And within the last week or
two the fabulous tum Of $3.50 was given
for letter (at HaIsheo) written by Lord
Nelson TO Lady Hamilton.