COMMISSION SIGNED BY OLIVER CROMWELL, OCTOBER 20, 1651.
(In the collection of Sir George White, Bart., of Bristol.)
SIGNATURE OF LORD PROTECTOR RICHARD CROMWELL TO A COMMISSION, JANUARY, 1658.
In the mid "eighteen-seventies" Mr. John Waller, the conscript father of London autograph-dealers, was about to move from 58, Fleet Street to Harley House, Artesian Road, Westbourne Grove. A little later the late Mr. Frederick Barker began to issue catalogues of autograph letters and historical documents from Rowan Road, Brook Green. He became the agent of Mr. William Evarts Benjamin, now the doyen of the autograph merchants in New York, then residing at 744, Broadway. In Mr. Waller's first catalogues I find the following "Royalties": Charles II. Royal Sign Manual, 7s. 6d.; letter from Charles II. of Spain to William III., 4s. 6d.; George Sign Manual when blind, 7s. 6d.; George I. Sign Manual, 1 p. folio, 12s. 6d.; Henry II. of France, fine D.S. with State seal, 12s. 6d.; King of Siam, 7s. 6d.; Papal Bull of Urban VIII., 30s.; Warrant of Privy Council of Edward VI. with numerous rare signatures, 25s.; Duke of Sussex, interesting letter on the trial of Queen Caroline, 4s. 6d.; Queen Victoria, two Royal Sign Manuals at 10s. each; Henry VIII. Royal Sign Manual on "vellum, document of great beauty," 48s.; Henry VII. Royal Sign Manual on "document of greatest interest," 70s.; Frederick Prince of Wales, L.S., 10s.; Charles I. when Prince of Wales, D.S., 34s.; Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette—signatures on two "important documents," 24s. the pair; Napoleon I. L.S. 2 pp. 4to to Prince of Neuchatel, Valladolid, January 11, 1809, 25s.; Papal Bull Alexander III., 1181, 47s. 6d.; Mary II. Royal Sign Manual, 30s.; Original Orders for Arrest of Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III.), June 13, 1848, 52s. 6d.; Napoleon II. (King of Rome), 4 pp. of an original historical essay, 48s.; Royal Sign Manual of Philip and Mary, ten guineas; A.L.S. of Charles II., 1½ pp., Whitehall, September 26, 1660, à sa chère sœur, 73s. 6d. I will not pursue this list further. The reader can judge of the relative value of Royal autographs in 1827 and 1875-80.
FOURTEEN LINES IN THE WRITING OF NAPOLEON ON MILITARY ORDER, WITH HIS SIGNATURE, JULY 3, 1803.