PART III.

Cost. Sale Price. Lot No. $ $ 1 Addison 20.00 42.00 30 Jane Austen 20.00 60.00 42 Beecher (H. W.) 2.00 21.00 45 Blackmore 2.50 8.50 47 Blake (Wm.) 15.00 55.00 44 " " 1.00 8.50 51 John Bright 1.00 7.25 52 Brontë (C.) 15.00 25.00 46 John Brown 20.00 46.00 60 Browning (E. B.) 20.00 35.00 76 Burns 70.00 165.00 81 Byron 40.00 85.00 84 Carlyle 10.00 21.00 91 Chesterfield 12.00 17.00 114 Darwin 4.00 12.00 118 Dickens 18.00 35.00 127 Doyle (Richard) 10.00 21.00 144 Franklin 30.00 86.00 151 Gladstone 1.50 5.00 165 Hardy (Thomas) 1.50 9.75 170 Hawthorne 20.00 45.00 208 Johnson (Samuel) 35.00 85.00 216 Kipling (R.) 4.00 17.00 229 Lewes 2.50 14.00 242 Macpherson (James) 2.50 9.50 246 Marryat (Capt.) 3.00 9.00 251 Meredith (Geo.) 5.00 15.50 262 Morris (Wm.) 9.00 21.00 274 Paine (Thos.) 10.00 25.00 288 Piozzi (Mme.) 12.00 43.00 290 Poe (E. A.) 28.00 96.00 292 Pope (A.) 40.00 145.00 293 Porter (Jane) 2.00 10.00 304 Reade (Chas.) 1.00 6.00 309 Richardson (Samuel) 15.00 29.00 315 Rossetti (D. G.) 4.00 16.50 325 Shelley 60.00 105.00 326 " 7.50 80.00 347 Stevenson (R. L.) 12.00 51.00 353 Swinburne (A.) 3.00 15.00 358 Tennyson (A.) 9.00 31.00 358 Thackeray (W. M.) 8.00 60.00 371 Walpole (H.) 10.00 24.00 377 Wesley (J.) 8.00 20.00

The majority of the Haber MSS. are of British origin. It gives me little opportunity of saying anything about the varying prices of the A.L.S. of American Presidents, or of the rise in value of the letters of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant. I note, however, that a letter of E. A. Poe has more than trebled in value since Mr. Haber acquired it. Letters of Longfellow are still in demand, but those of O. W. Holmes are somewhat at a discount and were not largely represented in the Haber Sale, at which a fine specimen of Benjamin Jowett went for 4s. A 4-pp. letter of Mr. Thomas Hardy was sold for £1 19s., but a 1-p. 8vo of Rudyard Kipling brought £3 8s.! A verse by Mr. Andrew Lang, to which his signature was appended, went for £1 4s. It was entitled "The Optimism of an Undertaker," and ran:--

Ah, why drag on unhappy days (This rede the undertaker says), Misguided race of men! Who handsomely interred might be By Mr. Silas Mould (that's me) For only three pound ten.

Twelve lines by Alexander Pope excited keen competition, and were sold eventually for £29. It is evident that, in spite of the set back of two years ago which brought a good many autographs back to England, the American market is still higher than any other, and there is every chance of its continuing so. On April 25, 1910, Mr. Frank Sabin paid £8,650 at Sotheby's for the voluminous correspondence, chiefly addressed to W. Blathwayt, Secretary of State and Commissioner for Trade and Plantations, relative to the American Colonies, during the last quarter of the seventeenth century. William Blathwayt (1649-1717) served his political apprenticeship under Sir W. Temple, subsequently filling the posts of Secretary at War (1683), Secretary of State to William III. during the campaign in Flanders, Commissioner for Trade and Plantations and Clerk of the Privy Council. Some years ago a parcel of Blathwayt's own letters, which I used in extra-illustrating the "Account of William III.'s Achievements at the Siege of Namur," cost me 20s. Another interesting lot at the sale of April 25th consisted of thirteen MS. and thirty-five early printed maps. This went to Mr. Quaritch for £690--a price solely attributable to its unique American interest.

FOOTNOTES:

[66] See my article in _The Country Home_, March, 1910.

[67] See _post_, Chapter XII.

[68] Since 1896 Dr. T. A. Emmet has formed a second collection of little less importance than the one now alluded to.

[69] Mr. T. Cuyler hopes some day to publish a "Visitation of the Signers" which will comprise a complete transcript of all the principal letters and documents collected under this head. The value and interest of such a work will be of manifold importance. He has already made a beginning.

[70] See _post_, p. 328.

[71] The original is now in the Emmet Collection, New York Public Library.

[72] André's journals are now in the magnificent collection of Mr. Bexby, of St. Louis.

[73] Cost is for letter only; sale price includes book.

XII

THE PRICES OF AUTOGRAPHS AND THEIR VARIATIONS