The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-07-30
In New York
By PAUL HARRISON

New York-If our contemporary celebrities want to do handsomely by posterity,, and especially by future generations of autograph collectors, they had better be sit- ting down and dashing off, by hand a lot of letters which some day may be described in catalogues as historical documents.
 Autographs, which are hand written and signed letters, are be- coming rare, and the typewriter IS responsible for it. For example. Herbert Hoover and Warren Hard ing Autographs already are worth twice as much as those of Jeffer- son Madison or Monroe. For that matter, a Mrs Harding is as valu- able as a Dolly Madison.
 After writing about amateur autograph collectors the other day, I decided to find out how the professionals are getting along. They're prospering. Prices are not so fancy as in the boom days when Dr A. S. Rosenbach paid $51,O00 for a Button Gwinnett but the demand is steady. Many people who are not collectors buy letters of certain statesmen, sol- diers and authors whom they greatly admire, Napoleon and Lincoln are the best sellers in that category Signed bits of literary and musical manuscript are popu- lar. Edgar Allen Poe sold 'The Raven" for $10, and the manu- script itself is now worth s20O,- 900.
 History Lesson.
 Incidentally, I learned at the autograph shop of Thomas Madi- gan, the biggest concern of it's kind in the country, that Button Gwinnett signatures no longer are the rarest of those to be found on the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Lynch, Jr., left fewer writings. Benjamin Franklin pro- vided lot of collectors items. One letter saw revealed that in 1763, having lived in England five years, he was so fond of the coun- try that he intended to live there if he could persuade the good wo- man to cross the seas" If 'the good woman" had crossed the seas as pr Franklin wanted. the whole history of America might have been very different.
 Madigan has a large assortment of military and naval heroes; it seems that some. collectors special iZe in them, though many of the names are ones you've seldom heard of Usually the letter of a private describing a battle is moro valuable than an uninteresting note from a general. Letters of Pickett hr;p General Lee wrote so many letters that they're only worth about $25. Pershings are quoted at $7.50 to $10. Letters of the eX-kaiser are in good demand; Ludendorff signatures sell for about S20.
 Among the Modcrns
 Of modern-time celebrities prices are pretty low. The highest figure ever paid for a letter of a living person is $500 for a George Der nard Shaw, but there are other Shavian items for as little as $25. King George and Queen Mary have kept their signatures out of cir culation with fair success, but you can get a Prince of Wales auto graph on a menu card or a theater program for SlO or $15. l.indbergh letters sell for $25 and up. but if he would sit down and write in long hand about one of his historic flights, the holograph would be ex- tremely valuable. A typed letter signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt brings $3.50. A Sinclair Lewis holo- graph is listed at $7.50.
 For $125 you can get an inter- esting letter written by Harding during his campaign for the sen ate. It reads: Gentlemen: If you can ship me five or ten thousand cases on the night of, the 4th, please consider this an order"
 Some days ago I mentioned that an attorney for Eugene O'Neill threatened suit against anyone who sold or permitted publication of any of his letters. The auto graph people are annoyed by this attitude, and have only one ex- planation to account for it. They think some letters must have been stolen from the dramatist-lettera which he is anxious to keep out of