Good Investments In Autographs
Written for The Collector’s Guide by Mary A. Benjamin
Allied News-Photo
Frequently I am asked, “What is a safe investment in autographic material over a long period of years?” The answer may well come from my experience gained in this field during the past decade. The boom years of 1928 and 1929 sent many items of a literary, historical and musical character sky-rocketing, although subsequently they shot down just as suddenly, 1938 seeing prices at probably their lowest level in 25 years. And yet, just as in the case of rare books, some forms of autograph material suffered less than others. The knowledge thus gained, helps materially to light the pathway as to what is the best sort of autographic material to consider for future investment.
Today, the safest buy seems to be good Presidential letters written either before or during their terms of office, preferably the latter. These letters must have worthwhile contents. Uninteresting documents of our Chief Executives are all too common and sell at nominal figures. Signers of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution are also excellent, that is, if the contents measure up. In the literary domain, authors’ letters about their works are always sought for, although prices are more inclined to fluctuate than on historical items.
Of late, increased interest has been evinced in the “War between the States,” or, as it is called up North, the Civil War. An added lure is that prices for this sort of material, are almost at rock-bottom, as collectors are just beginning to wake up to its importance. The years will see good war letters of famous Federal and Confederate Generals go very high. The upward swing has already begun.
A new field which has sprung up recently is that of State collections. The country has heretofore been too young to care much for the historical records of individual localities. But with the development of the nation, this interest has steadily grown, and today, all letters relating to internal politics of individual states or cities are being sought, the competition having a healthy effect upon prices.
Early Mormon material, and records pertaining to Texas, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, California, etc., are in active demand, thus enabling the average dealer to place them without difficulty almost as fast as received. Furthermore, whereas a collector may become discouraged in buying a complete set of Signers because of the super-rarity of a few names, there is little difficulty in obtaining the two or three Signers belonging to the collector’s home state, to say nothing of famous Generals, literary lights, composers, etc.
The one, almost unchanging code of the collector should be to buy hand-written letters of good date, and of unusual, historical, or otherwise excellent content. Fine items seem to hold their value pretty well, even in times of financial stress, and with the years should edge upwards in price. Less desirable items will fluctuate considerably. To sum up, good autographs provide the best expectation for at least a fair dividend on the money invested. On the other hand, common items that have little to recommend them except cheapness, are almost invariably a disappointment as far as the hope of satisfactory returns, are concerned. There are occasional exceptions but this rule holds true 98% of the time. In closing, may I also stress the importance of being sure that what you purchase is genuine. Unless you are an expert yourself, the safest way is to acquire your pen treasures only through a dealer on whose reliability and experience you can absolutely depend.
Walter Hart Blumenthal, rare book specialist at 1775 Broadway, New York, is frequently called upon to contribute articles on odd books, such as for example a Shorthand Bible, a Latin Life of Washington, “Alice in Wonderland” in Esperanto, and a book bound in human skin. Shortly THE COLOPHON will present an article by Mr. Blumenthal on books in which the text and illustrations are pierced into the vellum, letter by letter, the pages being backed by colored silk. In all the world, only seven such early volumes are known, he states.
Rare book dealers should make good chiropractors because they know so much about “spines”.... To make Book Week successful, avoid displaying Weak Books.... It requires no earthquake to produce “shaken” books.
WANTED
AUTOGRAPHED
FREE FRANKLED ENVELOPES
WARREN L. BARR
420 21st St., N. W. Canton, Ohio
THE BOOM IS ON
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A Book Stamp Innovation
As Flodden W. Heron aptly observed in a recent issue of the ARGONAUT, it is estimated by the Postal Department that one person out of every fifteen is interested in stamp collecting. There are over twenty-five journals issued exclusively for stamp collectors, and three hundred and two American newspapers maintain stamp departments. In addition sixty-four radio stations conduct regular stamp broadcasts. Book collectors constitute a much smaller group, and to date there has been no connection between these two enthusiastic armies of “acquisitioners.” To bring these two groups into closer cooperation, Mr. Heron recently suggested to the Pacific Philatelic Society of San Francisco the use of postage stamps of authors as association items for collected books. Investigation disclosed that postage stamps had been issued in honor of nearly one hundred authors.
He states that the idea occurred to him when coming into possession of a Stamp Case, invented by Lewis Carroll of “Alice in Wonderland” fame. It contained twelve pockets for stamps of different denominations. Progressively this gave birth to the thought of using stamps as association items in connection with first editions, artistically affixing them to fly-leaves, inside covers, or occasionally to title pages. Time will increase the scarcity or rarity of the stamps, and in some instances, as with certain bookplates, greatly enhance the value of the books to which they are affixed. Of course we must bear in mind that the number who collect stamps exceeds greatly those whose interest is in rare books. At the same time, many high school and college students and other groups, would like to collect books but cannot afford the prices of first editions. However, if postage stamps are classified as association items, thousands can buy books not first editions, but good reading copies. The inserting of proper stamps, will permit of book collecting on an inexpensive scale, because it is only necessary to watch dates, and acquire first-day “covers” for merely the regular price of the stamps. And as time goes on, these first issues will have increased value for book insertion, quite aside from their desirability to stamp collectors. For example, a copy of “Leaves of Grass,” issued by the Modern Library, with a first-day Whitman “cover” laid in, should fetch over double the cost of the book within a year after the stamp was issued. And this, in spite of the fact that a postage stamp in connection with a book can not be compared with an author’s inscription or presentation. It can be more likened to a bookplate, which has been added to the volume by some one other than the author. Two of Mr. Heron’s favorite authors are Lewis Carroll and Sir Walter Scott, and as he could find of them no existing postage stamps, he had two made, for his personal use, which serve as illustrations for this article. We feel certain that Mr. Heron will be glad to answer any question pertaining to book stamps on the part of those interested, if they will address their inquiries to him at Mills Building, San Francisco.
Temple Scott, rare book expert, died on Sept. 30th. in Edinburgh. Among his many activities, he had been adviser in the assembling of some of the notable private libraries of this country, including those of Jerome Kern, and the late William H. Woodin, former Secretary of the Treasury. The Kern collection was considered one of the most valuable ever gotten together in America, and in 1929 was sold at auction for $1,300,000. Also remembered are some of Mr. Scott’s outstanding purchases including the letters of Lord Chesterfield for which he paid $75,000, and the original text which Sir Walter Scott prepared for a definitive edition of his novels, and which set him back $150,000.
The first volume of Dr. Greg’s “Bibliography of the English Drama to 1640” is reported as ready. Information regarding it can be obtained from R. B. McKerrow, Picket Place, Wendover, Bucks, England.
Mrs. Nellie Dumont, widow of the minstrel king, Frank Dumont, died several months ago at her home, 1207 Green St., Philadelphia, Penna., where she had resided for 60 years. Mr. Dumont in his lifetime, possessed an unusually fine collection of theatrical material, and to this day, as far as we know, it has never been definitely established, just what became of it.
“COLLECTING
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
MAGAZINES”
The only book on the subject. 72 pages, 4 pp. illustrations, 10 Chapters. Lists values of all issues, special numbers, supplements. Information on reprints, binding, maps, formats, bibliography.
$1.00
EDWIN C. BUXBAUM
Box 327 Swarthmore, Penna.
Wanted to Buy: Geographics before 1907
We are always anxious to buy
Rare American
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
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PEGASUS BOOK SHOP
144 East 61 St. New York, N. Y.
HISTORY OF THE BOOK
COMBINATION OFFER
SIX ORIGINAL LEAVES: (1) Manuscript leaf on vellum; (2) Chinese Block Printing, 1440; (3) Nuremburg Chronicle Leaf with woodcut 1493; (4) Leaf of Justinian printed in red and black by Bautista de Tortis, Venice, 1496; (5) Sallust leaf by J. Ibarra, Madrid 1772; (6) Kelmscott Press leaf with woodcut initial printed by William Morris, 1893.
The group sent postpaid for $5.00
DAWSON’S BOOK SHOP
627 So. Grand Avenue
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Catalog of early printing sent free on request.
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ALBERT SAIFER
Book Auctions
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Consignments Solicited—Rates on Request
A list of old magazines and newspapers that are worth real money, in the February issue of THE COLLECTOR’S GUIDE.