CHATS ON
AUTOGRAPHS
BOOKS FOR COLLECTORS
_With Coloured Frontispieces and many Illustrations._
_Large Crown 8vo, cloth._
CHATS ON ENGLISH CHINA.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON OLD FURNITURE.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON OLD PRINTS.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON OLD SILVER.
By E. L. LOWES.
CHATS ON COSTUME.
By G. WOOLLISCROFT RHEAD.
CHATS ON OLD LACE AND NEEDLEWORK.
By E. L. LOWES.
CHATS ON ORIENTAL CHINA.
By J. F. BLACKER.
CHATS ON MINIATURES.
By J. J. FOSTER.
CHATS ON ENGLISH EARTHENWARE.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
(Companion Volume to "Chats on English China.")
CHATS ON AUTOGRAPHS.
By A. M. BROADLEY.
* * * * *
[Illustration: A.L.S. OF WILLIAM WILSON, AN ACTOR OF THE "FORTUNE"
THEATRE, TO EDWARD ALLEYN, OF DULWICH, 1620.
Frontispiece.]
* * * * *
CHATS ON AUTOGRAPHS
BY
A. M. BROADLEY
AUTHOR OF "DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE," JOINT AUTHOR OF
"NAPOLEON AND THE INVASION OF ENGLAND," "NELSON'S
HARDY," "DUMOURIEZ AND THE DEFENCE OF
ENGLAND AGAINST NAPOLEON,"
ETC., ETC.
WITH ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
"An Autograph Collection may be made an admirable adjunct to
the study of History and Biography."
L. J. CIST
[Preface to Tefft Catalogue, 1866]
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN
ADELPHI TERRACE
MCMX
* * * * *
To
SIR ISAMBARD OWEN,
D.C.L., M.D., F.R.C.P.
HON. FELLOW OF DOWNING COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
FIRST DEPUTY CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES,
AND VICE-CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL,
A ROYAL AND FREE CITY, RENOWNED FOR THE
RICHNESS OF ITS ARCHIVES, AND ITS CLOSE
ASSOCIATION WITH MEN OF LETTERS,
THIS VOLUME IS, WITH HIS PERMISSION, INSCRIBED
BY THE AUTHOR.
_THE KNAPP, BRADPOLE, May 6, 1910._
[_All rights reserved._]
* * * * *
PREFACE
"Life is a leaf of paper white
Whereon each one of us may write
His word or two--then comes the night."
LOWELL.
Mr. T. Fisher Unwin has asked me to "chat" on autographs and autograph
collecting. Fifteen years ago the late Dr. George Birkbeck Hill
"talked" on the same subject in compliance with a similar request.
Still more recently Mr. Adrian H. Joline, of New York, has given the
world his "meditations" on a pursuit which another American unkindly
describes as "that dreadful fever," but which Mr. Joline, as well
as the present writer, regards in the light of "the most gentle of
emotions." Mr. Joline expressed, on the first page of his interesting
book, a profound conviction that nobody could by any possibility be
persuaded to read it unless already interested in the topic with
which it so effectively deals. One of the principal objects of the
_causeries_ I have undertaken to write is to reach, if possible, a
public to which the peculiar fascination and indescribable excitement
of the autograph cult are still unknown, and to demonstrate (to a
certain extent from my own personal experience), the practical utility,
as well as the possibilities of material profit, inherent in this
particular form of literary treasure-trove. For the benefit of the
uninitiated (and in this case the uninitiated are in a vast majority)
it is necessary at the onset to differentiate between the "Autograph
Fiend" (the phrase is, I believe, American in its origin), who pesters,
often with unpardonable persistence, well-known personages for their
signatures in albums or on photographs, and the discriminating
collector who accumulates for the benefit of posterity either important
documents or the letters of famous men. "Nothing," writes Horace
Walpole, "gives us so just an idea of an age as genuine letters, nay
history waits for its last seal from them."
Adopting the words of one of the most gifted letter-writers who ever
lived as a text, let me clearly define an autograph for the purposes of
these pages to be:--
_A letter or document written or signed by any given person._
An autograph collector, as I understand the term, is one who acquires
and arranges documents of the sort now described. A collector of
autograph signatures has nothing in common with the scientific
autograph collector. Those who deliberately cut signatures from
important letters are in reality the worst enemies both of the
autograph collector and the historian. Vandalism of this kind (often
committed in happy unconsciousness of the consequences) brings with it
its own punishment, for detached signatures are almost worthless. Many
years ago a dealer was offered sixteen genuine signatures of Samuel
Pepys, their owner naïvely remarking that "he had cut them from the
letters _to save trouble_." As a matter of fact he had in the course of
a few seconds depreciated the value of his property to the extent of
at least £150. The letters (if intact) would have fetched from £15 to
£20 each! "Album Specimens"--the results of the misplaced energy of the
"autograph hunter," are of very little value as compared with holograph
letters, and collections of this kind, although often elaborately
bound up and provided with a lock and key, generally prove a woeful
disappointment to the representatives of those who bestowed so much
time and trouble on their formation. Collections of "franks," or the
signatures in virtue of which Peers and Members of the House of Commons
prior to 1840 could transmit letters through the post free of charge,
must not be classed with those of "clipped" or isolated signatures.
"Frank Collections" were often very interesting, and in the early years
of the nineteenth century many well-known people devoted much time and
trouble to their completion. The subject will be further alluded to in
my text.
Although a personal element must of necessity pervade to some extent,
at least, my chats on autographs, it is obvious that the subject is one
which necessitates the greatest discretion. I shall carefully refrain
from using any letter which has ever been addressed to me personally,
although I have ventured to reproduce the signature of H.R.H. Ismail
Pacha, one of the most remarkable men of his time, and that of Arabi
Pacha, for whom I acted as counsel before the court-martial held at
Cairo on December 2, 1882. Between 1884 and 1889 I was in constant
correspondence with the late ex-Khedive Ismail, and from 1883 down
to the present day I have frequently exchanged letters with my once
celebrated Egyptian client, who returned from exile some five years
ago to spend the rest of his life in Cairo. Nor shall I, with one or
two exceptions, give _in extenso_ the letters of any living person,
or letters which can possibly give pain or concern to others. Those
who carefully study, as I do, the catalogues issued from time to time
by dealers in autographs, both in this country and abroad, must often
be astonished at the rapidity with which the letters of Royal and
other illustrious personages "come into the market." At the death of a
well-known authoress a few years ago the whole of the letters addressed
to her were sold _en bloc_. I was not surprised to learn that the
appearance of these "specimens" was the cause of much consternation and
many heart-burnings.
[Illustration: SIGNATURES OF THE EGYPTIAN CLIENTS OF THE AUTHOR,
1882-1888, H.R.H. THE KHEDIVE ISMAIL; H.R.H. PRINCE IBRAHIM HILMY, HIS
SON, AND ARABI PACHA.
(The latter in both Arabic and English.)]
The present age is essentially one of "collecting," and I hope to
convince those who are interested in collecting generally, but have
not yet included autographs in their sphere of operations, that a
great opportunity awaits them, and that no form of collecting, either
from a literary or antiquarian point of view, possesses greater charm
or greater possibilities. In his recent works on the private life
of Napoleon, M. Frédéric Masson has shown the inestimable value of
autograph letters to the historian, and it is from unpublished and
hitherto unknown MSS. in public and private collections that Dr. J.
Holland Rose has obtained much of the new information which will give
exceptional value to his forthcoming "Life of Pitt." If there is,
as Mr. Adrian Joline points out, an abundance of "gentle emotion"
to be found in the cult of the autograph, there is also no lack of
pleasurable excitement. If autograph frauds, forgeries, and fakes are
abundant, autograph "finds" are equally so. There is an indescribable
pleasure in the detection of the former, and an amount of enjoyable
excitement connected with the latter, which none but the keen collector
can entirely realise. Having convinced the antiquarian of the quite
exceptional value of the autograph as a collecting subject, I shall
hope to show my readers how they may most rapidly and most economically
obtain that special knowledge necessary to become an expert. The
autograph market, as at present constituted, is a very small one, but
it is growing rapidly, and there is at this moment no better investment
than the highest class of historical and literary autographs, provided
one exercises proper discretion in purchasing and is content to wait
for opportunities which often occur. The truth of my assertion as to
the possibilities of profit in autograph collecting was never more
clearly demonstrated than at the sale, in December, 1909, of the
library of Mr. Louis J. Haber, of New York City, which was conducted
by the Anderson Auction Company. Two days were exclusively devoted
to autographs, and Mr. Haber has subsequently communicated to me a
complete list of the prices at which he bought and sold the literary
_rariora_ now dispersed. The sensation of the sale was the selling of a
letter of John Keats for £500. For this letter (an exceptionally fine
and interesting one) Mr. Haber originally paid £25. Nevertheless, as
I shall have occasion to point out, the English collector might have
picked up some bargains at the Haber sale. An autograph poem by Edmund
Burke, written in 1749, was sold for £4 8s., and I envy the purchaser
of the characteristic letter of Lord Chesterfield, knocked down to
some fortunate bidder for £3 8s. I do not hesitate to say that the
Burke poem and the Chesterfield letter would have fetched double the
prices realised at Sotheby's. A letter of Mrs. Piozzi's (not improved
by inlaying) fetched £8 12s. Mr. Haber gave £2 8s. for it, and I have
bought a dozen equally good Piozzi letters at considerably less than
that.
The _bonne camaraderie_ which exists amongst autograph collectors is
exemplified by the ready assistance rendered me in the preparation
of my "chats." Dr. H. T. Scott, who has devoted the greater part of
his life to the practical study of the subject, has given me many
valuable hints; Mr. Telamon Cuyler, the future historian of Georgia,
has rendered me important help in the matter of American autographs
and autograph collecting; Mr. Charles De F. Burns, of New York, has
given me (through Mr. Cuyler) most interesting data concerning the
development of a fondness for autographs in the United States; while
Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet has sent me the catalogue of his unrivalled
collection of American MSS. now in the Lenox Library, New York. I
tender my best thanks for the aid in various directions which I
have received from Mr. Bernard Quaritch; Mr. Turner, President of
the Anderson Auction Company, New York; Mr. Goodspeed, of Boston;
Monsieur Noël Charavay, of Paris; Messrs. Maggs, Mr. J. H. Stonehouse,
of Messrs. Sotheran, and Mr. W. V. Daniell; while Professor M.
Gerothwohl, Litt.D., of the University of Bristol, has kindly
translated the important letter of the Empress Catharine of Russia,
and one or two other difficult examples of eighteenth-century French.
My acknowledgments are also due to Mr. John Lane and Messrs. Harper
Brothers, who have kindly allowed me to use certain illustrations,
originally given in my books published by them; as well as to the
proprietors of _The Country Home_ for allowing me to reproduce some of
the autographs which first appeared in connection with the articles I
have had the honour to contribute to that journal.
If I succeed in awakening an extended and more intelligent interest
in autographs and autograph collecting, I shall have done something
in my generation to help future historians, whose task must, of
necessity, become increasingly difficult as time goes on. When I
"commenced" collecting on my own account, to borrow an old-world,
eighteenth-century phrase, I was literally groping in the dark, and
necessity compelled me to buy my experience. I do not think I purchased
it dearly. M. Noël Charavay thinks all good judges of autographs are
near-sighted, and possibly this helped me in the early stages of my
collecting career to distinguish the genuine article from a forged
imitation. By attending to the hints which I shall give in the proper
place the young collector will soon be able to recognise the original
from the counterfeit. As the values of autographs increase (as they are
sure to do) the temptation to forgery becomes greater, and consequently
the application of the maxim _caveat emptor_ more urgent. Respectable
autograph dealers guarantee the letters they sell, but even experts
are occasionally mistaken. Quite recently I lighted on a letter of
Archbishop Fénelon in America, and thought I had secured a bargain.
The source from which it came was unimpeachable, but M. Noël Charavay
immediately confirmed my opinion that it was a lithographic forgery.
There is, at any rate, one privilege that the autograph collector alone
enjoys. It is difficult to say that any particular piece of china,
medal, coin, print, or postage stamp is unique. There is always the
danger of a duplicate turning up. With autograph letters, on the other
hand, each specimen may fairly be described as "absolutely unique."
I have only once met with an exception to this rule. Some twenty
days before his death Charles Dickens wrote a letter in duplicate to
Buckstone the actor. To avoid the possibility of its miscarrying one
was addressed to the theatre, and the other to Sydenham. I have the
former and should much like to know what has become of the other, but
even in this case the letters are not precisely identical.
So vast is the range of autographs (taking the subject as a whole
and the term in its broadest sense) that the collector of the rising
generation will do well to limit his sphere of operations to one
particular subject or locality. It is only by doing this he can hope to
arrive at anything like finality, or to make his acquisitions really
useful from an historical point of view. Let him make the worthies
of his own county, or birthplace, or calling the objective of his
researches, and he will soon feel encouraged to go further afield. As
long ago as 1855 a writer in the _Athenæum_ remarked that "the story of
what history owes to the autograph collector would make a pretty book."
The present and future possibilities of autograph collecting as the
handmaiden of history-making cannot be more forcibly illustrated than
by the perusal of the marvellous catalogue issued by Messrs. Pearson,
of Pall Mall Place, while these pages were going through the press.
Here we have a collection of autographs by English sovereigns valued at
£1,600, one of musical composers priced at £2,500, and another of 105
letters by great artists, beginning with Antonio del Pollajuolo (born
in 1426) and ending with Corot, who died in 1875, for which £3,500,
or an average price of £35 each is asked. Modern historians will
possibly be more interested in the portfolios of _unpublished_ letters
by Marlborough, Burke, and Pitt, of which the House of Pearson is at
present the custodian. Without reference to them it will be impossible
to say that the last word has been said about these three great men,
who played in turn so important a part in our national annals. Their
ultimate owner may have the opportunity of assisting the historian in
the manner I have ventured to indicate.
A. M. BROADLEY.
CONTENTS
PREFACE 7
CHAPTER I
PAGE
ON AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING GENERALLY 27
Autograph collecting in relation to kindred hobbies--The
genesis of the autograph--Examples of the _alba amicorum_ of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--The conscript fathers
of autograph collecting--Franks and their votaries--Album
specimens and their value--The autograph-hunter and his
unconscious victims--Anecdotes of some recent autograph "draws."