Chats on Autographs

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."
CHAPTER II
THE MODERN AUTOGRAPH COLLECTOR AND HIS EQUIPMENT	51
Useful books on autographs—Collections of autograph facsimiles—The autograph markets of London and Paris—Variations in price—Autograph catalogues and dealers—The treatment and classification of autographs.
CHAPTER III
THE CAVEAT EMPTOR OF AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING	71
Forgeries and fakes—Cases of mistaken identity—Some famous autograph frauds—Practical methods of detection.
CHAPTER IV
SOME FAMOUS AUTOGRAPH "FINDS"	93
Personal reminiscences and experiences.
CHAPTER V
ROYAL AUTOGRAPHS PAST AND PRESENT—THE COPY-BOOKS OF KINGS AND PRINCES	113
Some unpublished specimens of the handwriting of Royal Personages present and past.
CHAPTER VI
THE AUTOGRAPHS OF STATECRAFT, SOCIETY, AND DIPLOMACY	169
Unpublished letters of the two Pitts, Lord Chesterfield, and Lord Stanhope.
CHAPTER VII
THE LITERARY AUTOGRAPHS OF THREE CENTURIES	193
From the days of Shakespeare and Spenser to those of Thackeray, Dickens, Tennyson, and Meredith—The value of literary autographs and MSS.
CHAPTER VIII
NAVAL AND MILITARY AUTOGRAPHS	235
Unpublished letters of celebrated sailors and soldiers.
CHAPTER IX
AUTOGRAPHS OF MUSIC, THE DRAMA, AND ART	255
Illustrated letters.
CHAPTER X
AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING IN FRANCE	289
Autograph letters of Napoleon—His associates and contemporaries—Other French autographs.
CHAPTER XI
A CENTURY OF AMERICAN AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING	317
The great collectors and collections of the United States—The autograph sale-rooms of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.
CHAPTER XII
THE PRICES OF AUTOGRAPHS AND THEIR VARIATIONS	345
William Upcott and his contemporaries—Sale prices 1810-1910.
INDEX	378

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