CHAPTER XII

THE PRICES OF AUTOGRAPHS AND THEIR VARIATIONS

William Upcott and his contemporaries—Sale prices 1810-1910

William Upcott, the conscript father of modern autograph-collecting, was born in 1770, and lived until 1845. He was the natural son of the painter Ozias Humphry, the maiden-name of whose mother he assumed. His own mother was Dolly Wickens, the daughter of an Oxford tradesman. From his father he inherited a taste for antiques of every description, as well as a valuable collection of miniatures, pictures, and engravings. The life-story of Upcott is told with unusual detail in the "Dictionary of National Biography."[74] While acting as an assistant to the well-known booksellers, Evans of Pall Mall and Wright of Piccadilly, he attracted the attention of Dean Ireland and other literati. He was appointed Assistant-Secretary to Porson at the London Institution in 1806, and on his death continued to occupy the same post under Maltby. Mr. H. R. Tedder tells us that "every inch of the walls in his rooms, whether at the London Institution or in his subsequent residence, was covered with paintings, drawings, and prints, most of them by Gainsborough or Humphry, while all the drawers, shelves, boxes, and cupboards were crammed with his [autograph] collections." Upcott spent the evening of his useful life at 102, Upper Street, Islington, naming his house "Autograph Cottage." In 1836 he published privately a catalogue of his MSS. One of his greatest finds (and they may be counted by scores) was the discovery of the MS. of Chatterton's "Amphitryon" (now in the British Museum) in a cheesemonger's shop. He never married. There is a capital portrait of Upcott engraved in March, 1818, by T. Bragg, after a drawing by W. Behnes. My copy of it is inscribed in minute but peculiarly clear handwriting, "Presented to his much esteemed Friend and fellow-traveller Mrs. Robert Nasmyth of Edinburgh. William Upcott," London Institution, August 26, 1833. By his side is a cabinet of medals; in his hands a volume of "Topography," and on the table a deed on which one at once recognises the sign-manual of Queen Elizabeth.

It is impossible to over-estimate the value of the work done by Upcott in providing sources of reliable information for future generations of historians. In my own collection is the following interesting letter of this collector, written nine years before his death:—

It was to his brother autograph collector, Mr. Dawson Turner, of Yarmouth, that Upcott dedicated in 1818 his standard work on the literature of English topography. Mr. Greaves, of Isham Hall, Manchester, apparently missed the chance of a lifetime. He might have acquired for £500 what would be now worth £15,000 or even £20,000.

In 1846 Upcott's rariora were sold by Sotheby at Evans's auction-rooms, 106, New Bond Street, and realised £4,125 17s. 6d., and that at a time when the science of autographs was in its infancy. In the "Dictionary of National Biography" reference is made to the large paper copy of the Upcott catalogue now in the British Museum as once belonging to Dawson Turner. Numerous purchases were made for the national collection, which now form the series known as additional MSS. 15841 to 15957. Amongst these 116 volumes are the papers of John Nicholas, the papers of Brown and Evelyn, Burton's diary, Curtius's letters, the Dayrolles correspondence, the letters addressed to Sir Christopher Hatton, Shenstone's poem, the "Snuff-Box," and many other items of extraordinary interest, including Prior's papers while in Paris, and the papers of the French Army in Italy.

The following are fair examples of the prices realised at this memorable sale of January 22-24, 1846:—

The examination of this truly marvellous catalogue not only shows the extent of Mr. Graves's loss, but that the increase of prices between 1827 and 1846 had been infinitesimal. The earliest indications of a noteworthy upward movement are discernible at the Donnadieu Sale of 1851, and still more markedly so at the dispersal of the collections of Mr. Young and Mr. Dillon in 1869. It was reserved for the present year of grace to see a Keats letter sell for £500, and one of Charlotte BrontË for £50. My friend Dr. Scott is quite in despair over the prices of February 28, 1910, and regards the figure at which the BrontË autograph sold as "positively wicked"!

One of the most industrious (but not always discriminating) collectors who followed was Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Cheltenham (1792-1872), who not unfrequently acquired the whole contents of a dealer's catalogue en bloc. Sales from the Bibliotheca Phillippica have taken place at intervals since 1892, and the store is not yet exhausted.[75] I am personally grateful to this voracious accumulator of autographic treasure, as I picked up at one of the sales seven volumes of eighteenth-century water-colour sketches of Dorset buildings and scenery for—five shillings!

In 1832 he wrote the following letter (now in my possession) to the late Sir Henry Ellis:—

The priceless Morrison Collection has already been mentioned. Its dispersal would certainly occasion a dislocation in autograph prices throughout the world.

Since 1900 I have carefully noted the prices realised at all the principal sales in London, and more recently in New York, and although there has been a steady rise in prices for high-class autographs, not a single sale has ever occurred at which some bargain or other might not have been picked up.

The existing firm of Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge, of 13, Wellington Street, Strand (the premises, by a strange coincidence, once occupied by the elder Ireland), was really founded as far back as 1696, when Messrs. Cooper & Milling first began to dispose of MSS.—generally in the evening. The business passed successively through the hands of Messrs. Ballard, Paterson, & Baker. In 1744 Samuel Baker moved to auction-rooms over "Exeter 'Change" in the Strand. At the death of Mr. Baker he was succeeded by Mr. John Sotheby, when the firm became Leigh & Sotheby. From 145, Strand, they removed to the premises in Wellington Street, long familiar to buyers of MSS.

At the "Sotheby" sale of November 1, 1901, I note the following prices:—

At the sale of Colonel John Moore's autographs at "Sotheby's" (November 29-30, 1901), I note a magnificent series of Civil War MSS. Amongst the letters sold were the following:—

The two days' sale of 318 lots realised £956 13s.

In the five-days' sale at "Sotheby's," which commenced on December 2, 1901, books and autographs were mixed. The total reached £6,216 11s. 6d. Amongst the autographs figured:—

(At the sale of Mr. Yates's Library in 1895 "Gathered Leaves" had fetched £65.)

There was a two-days' sale on December 9 and 10, 1901, devoted solely to autographs, in which 478 lots brought £473 12s.

Fifteen A.L.S. of Charles Dickens ranged in price from £6 to 10s.

Of the autograph sales at "Sotheby's" in 1902 the most interesting took place on December 11, 12, and 13. The 865 lots sold realised a total of £1,373 4s. 6d.

Amongst the MSS. sold may be noted:—

There were several autograph sales at "Sotheby's" in 1903. The late Mr. Frederick Barker was good enough to price for me the catalogue of the sale of June 23rd-24th. On the first day five long letters of Samuel Richardson to the Rev. Mr. Lobb (1743-56) averaged about £12 12s. A conveyance signed by Guido Fawkes (reputed to have been picked up for 10s.) fetched £101, and a 6½-pp. letter of Nelson to Sir Alexander Ball was sold for £30 10s. Throughout this sale prices ruled very high—quite a short note of Thackeray's realising £7 5s. A fine series of letters by Earl St. Vincent averaged about £2, but one of these (dated January 17, 1801), in which he wrote: "Nelson was very low when he came here, the day before yesterday, appeared and acted as if he had done me an injury, and felt apprehensive that I was acquainted with it. Poor man! he is devoured with vanity, weakness and folly, was strung with ribbons, medals, &c., and yet pretended he wished to avoid the honours and ceremonies he everywhere met with on the road," brought no less than £9 5s. A number of letters by Edward Fitzgerald, the translator of Omar KhayyÁm, addressed to Joseph Fletcher ("Posh"), averaged about 30s., and several letters of Charles Dickens £2 2s. each.

The two-days' sale of June 8th and 9th in this year brought no less than £1,963 9s. 6d. for only 618 lots.

Amongst the autographs disposed of at this sale were:—

Another autograph sale was held at "Sotheby's" on July 23, 1903, and the following days, when some fine letters by Oliver Cromwell, Burns, Dickens, and "George Eliot," were sold at good prices. The last sale of this season took place in Wellington Street on the 19th of November and two following days. The 738 lots in this sale brought a total of £971 12s. 6d.

Amongst the autographs sold were:—

The first autograph sale of 1904 in Wellington Street lasted two days only (13th and 14th of May), but it included No. 218, the A.L.S. of Nelson to Lady Hamilton (September 25, 1805), 4 pp. 4to, which realised £1,030, possibly still the record price for a single letter. Other letters of Nelson at this sale fetched £16, £13 (two), £6 15s., and £4 15s. A letter of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, beginning with the emphatic words, "Ay, ay, as you say my dear, men are vile inconstant toads," was sold for 15s. only. A great many letters of great interest were included in this catalogue. Amongst them may be noted A.L.S. Beethoven, £30; A.L.S. Sir Stamford Raffles, nearly 25 pp. 4to, described as "giving a most lively and interesting description of the interior description of St. Helena with Napoleon Buonaparte, and Napoleon's answers to certain charges commonly brought against him, etc., marked 'private,' probably unpublished. Off St. Helena, May 20, 1816." This is now in my collection.

It was at this sale that a letter of the Duke of Wellington fetched the record price (as far as his autographs are concerned) of £101. It was thus described:—

The letter before it (126) realised only 8s., and two letters sold together (128) after it, only 9s., although both were excellent specimens of Wellington's style.

There was another autograph sale at "Sotheby's" on July 18th and 19th. In this sale the following prices were obtained:—

By way of contrast the following letter of the late Sir H. M. Stanley, addressed to the Secretary of the Temple Club, realised only one shilling:—

The following A.L.S. of Lady Hamilton's was sold for £12 15s.:—

I lately saw, in possession of Mr. Sabin, Nelson's private banker's pass-book during the last eighteen months of his life. With two exceptions every cheque he had drawn was in favour of his "dearest Emma."

A one day's sale of 213 lots at "Sotheby's" on December 1, 1904, brought £582 17s. An account verified by Henry VII. with his royal initials realised £10, and a document with sign-manual of Henry VIII., £7 5s. A Privy Council letter from Whitehall (April 27, 1640) was sold for £8 15s. A series of official papers signed by Bonaparte averaged £3, but a certificate of service signed by Captain James Napoleon sold for more than twice as much. One of the features of this sale was quite a number of letters by Governors, Deputy-Governors, and Judges in Australia. Many of these fetched £10 each. A letter of Colonel William Paterson to Sir Joseph Banks (1805) went as high as £13 10s., and one of David Collins, founder and first Governor of the Van Diemen's Land Settlement, yielded the same price.

This was followed by the sale of December 5th and 6th, in which 4,116 lots brought £1,009 16s. Nelson's letter-book (1796-97) was sold for £150.

A series of six holograph letters from Dr. Samuel Johnson to his friend Sir Robert Chambers, afterwards a judge in Bengal, all said to be unpublished, and extending from October 22, 1762, to April 19, 1783, realised £125; the original galley and second proof sheets of "The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture," with numerous corrections and alterations in the handwriting of Mr. Gladstone, £10 10s.; an autograph letter of John Keats, June, 1819, to Miss Jeffrey, in which he says, "You will judge of my 1819 temper when I tell you that the thing I have most enjoyed this year has been writing an 'Ode to Indolence,'" 4 pp. 4to, £35 (Quaritch); and the autograph manuscript of W. Morris's "A King's Lesson, an Old Story Retold," on six leaves of paper, £27 10s.

The second day's sale included a remarkable series of autograph letters addressed to Mrs. Thrale and inherited by a descendant. Sixteen of the letters were written by Dr. Samuel Johnson, chiefly to Mrs. Thrale; two were from Boswell to the same, and there were others from Mrs. Siddons, Garrick, Goldsmith, Burke, and various other celebrities of the day. The Johnson letters for the most part possessed but little literary interest, but in the longest one in the series, written by Boswell and dated from Banff, August 25, 1773, he refers to his journey in Scotland, and says concerning their arrival at St Andrews: "The professors who happened to be resident in the vacation made a public dinner and treated us very kindly and respectfully. They showed us their colleges, in one of which there is a library that for luminousness and elegance may vie with the new edifice at Streatham. But learning seems not to prosper among them; one of their colleges has been lately alienated, and one of their churches lately deserted." The Johnson letters date from July 19, 1755, to April 15, 1784, and the entire series was sold en bloc for £300.[76] The sale also included an interesting series of five autograph letters from S. T. Coleridge to Thomas Poole, 1797-98, giving a history of his life, and covering 17 pages folio and quarto, which fetched £14 10s., and an autograph letter from Charles Lamb to J. H. Green, August 26, 1834, which sold for £6 2s. 6d.

Allusion has been made elsewhere to the excitement caused at the beginning of 1905 by the sale of January 25th, at which the 33 4to pages, described as belonging to the original MS. of "Paradise Lost," were bought in, the reserve price of £5,000 not having been reached.[77]

From the 2nd to the 4th of March following there was a three-days' autograph sale in Wellington Street, in which 905 lots brought £1,834 9s. 6d. A series of letters by General Gordon averaged £1 each; the Dickens letters disposed of sold better than in 1903 or 1904, realising from £2 to £6, and 52 letters of Gilbert White brought £150. Some splendid musical and dramatic letters collected by the late Mr. Julian Marshall realised high prices, showing a marked advance in this kind of autographs.

The one-day sale of April 13, 1905, was almost entirely devoted to Civil War and Royal autographs, 205 lots (in striking contrast to the Upcott Sale) making a total of £2,009—or nearly £10 each lot! Some of the rarest items fetched the following prices:—

The late Mr. Frederick Barker showed me the whole of this collection bound up in a shabby looking volume, with small rope and thick glue! The separating them without injury was a matter of the greatest difficulty, and the necessary operation was performed at Oxford.

This was the centenary year of Trafalgar, and its influence was soon felt in the autograph market. The one-day sale at "Sotheby's" on May 17th offered abundant attractions to Nelson buyers; but the 226 lots only fetched £397 10s. The Nelson items were somewhat over-catalogued, and the results were probably disappointing. The highest price paid for a Nelson letter was £25. Some went as low as £3 3s. Nelson's captains fared badly. Letters of Berry, Bickerton, Brereton, and so forth went for two or three shillings each, and Ganteaume, DecrÈs, and Gravina were equally unfortunate. An order signed by Hardy, informing Admiral Berkeley that three men had been lashed with the "cat-o'-nine-tails," was disposed of for 7s.

Far more important, however, was the sale of the previous week (May 11th, 12th, and 13th), which included the Bunbury MSS. In this sale 842 lots fetched £2,108. The Bunbury correspondence was quite as important to the story of the days of George III. as the documents sold during the previous month were to that of the Civil War. The dispersal of both collections must ever be a matter of regret. I do not think the Bunbury letters would have been sold at all in 1910.

Before the Bunbury portion of the sale was reached a series of twenty-four letters addressed by Mrs. Siddons to Mrs. Pennington, chiefly relating to the troubles occasioned by Thomas Lawrence's courtship of her daughters,[78] was disposed of. They belonged to Mr. Oswald G. Knapp and realised £100. As no letter of Sarah M. Siddons was included in the lot, I do not regret having acquired the letter catalogued in error as that of her mother. The letters of Mrs. Piozzi to Dr. Whalley (twenty-five in all) published in the Rev. Hill Wickham's book on his ancestor[79] were sold for £16. Mrs. Wickham parted with them for £6, and got little more fifty years ago for Dr. Whalley's correspondence with Mrs. Siddons. Two letters of Burns brought £25 and £14 10s. respectively, and the buyer of the letters written by Sir Thomas NoËl Hill, K.C.B., during the campaign in the Peninsula and in Flanders, possibly got a bargain. One Nelson letter only was sold on May 11th. It was addressed to Lady Hamilton from the Victory, on May 4, 1805, and realised £71. In my opinion it was far finer than that for which £1,030 was paid. It ran thus:—

The Bunbury MSS. were included in the lots from 607 to 842. Considering their great historical importance the total price paid for them—£896 19s.—can hardly be considered adequate. The Crabbe A.L.S. to Burke (6 pp. 4to), for which I subsequently gave £20, went for £14. Some very important letters of General Dumouriez were sold for £6 10s. and £6 5s., and C. J. Fox's confidential letters to his brother, General Fox, averaged less than £3.

Some important A.L.S. and L.S. of Frederick the Great brought from £6 to £20, and a letter from Oliver Goldsmith to Mrs. Bunbury, partly in verse and extremely witty, was cheap at £82, although it made a record as far as Goldsmith's letter is concerned. Another Goldsmith letter to H. W. Bunbury about his "last literary effort" ("She Stoops to Conquer"), fetched only £50. The letters of the third Lord Holland (1773-1840) went for a song, although every page of them would materially help the historian. The finest letter of Sir Hudson Lowe was sold for £15, and three letters from Pope to Lord Strafford realised £29 10s., £12, and £8 15s. respectively. Ten letters of Matthew Prior in one lot were disposed of at £140. The letters of Charles, Duke of Richmond (1735-1806), to Lady Louisa Conolly almost failed to find buyers, although in reality they were little less historically important than those of Lord Holland. It must not be forgotten that the MSS. of Sir Thomas Hanmer were sold with those of the Hanbury family. An A.L.S. of Sir Richard Steele to Sir T. Hanmer fetched £25 10s., and one of Swift £18 10s. I am quite unable to understand why a letter of Benjamin West should have brought £24 10s., while a long political letter of the Duke of Wellington to Colonel Bunbury sold for only £6. In these two last lots there were the makings of two books, but Mr. Quaritch obtained the whole of the MSS. relating to the affairs of the Mediterranean, 1806-14, for £35, and those connected with the War in Germany and in Belgium, 1813-15, for £5 more.

The next sale devoted solely to autographs took place at "Sotheby's" on July 8, 1905. It was essentially a Trafalgar commemoration, and 215 lots made a total of £1,034 14s.

In this sale a very curious letter of General Dumouriez to "My good and glorious Nelson," written in English, was purchased for the British Museum by Mr. Quaritch at the low price of £3 7s. 6d.[80] I must content myself with giving the price of the principal Nelson letters now sold.

The official dispatch announcing the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson, from Lord Collingwood to the "Rt. Honble. Lord Robert Fitzgerald, Minister Plenipotentiary, Ambassador at Lisbon," dated October 24, 1805, was purchased by Mr. Sabin for £95. Five letters from Lady Hamilton to Mr. George Rose, Mr. C. F. Greville, and Lord Stowell, were sold for £12, £13 10s., and £27 respectively. Just at the end of this sale two letters of Shelley realised £38 and £20 respectively.

There was another three-days' autograph sale at "Sotheby's" on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of July of this year. The 1,087 lots included in it brought a sum total of £1,578 8s.

In the autumn of 1906 Mr. Frederick Barker, who was held in high esteem as an autograph expert, died, and three sales were devoted to the dispersal of his MSS., but these sales call for no note. In fact, they were felt to be disappointing. Most of Mr. Barker's best "finds" had been parted with during his lifetime. The first of the Barker sales commenced on December 18, 1905. Almost simultaneously the Irving relics were dispersed at "Christie's." Amongst them were a few autographs. The death of the famous actor caused a sudden rise in the price of his letters, but it has since subsided. On the night before his tragic death Irving had signed a few portrait postcards for my friend Mr. Peter Keary, who has very kindly given me one of them.

The three days of the Barker Sale, with 910 lots, only brought £916 12s. 6d. It should be noted that the price of Nelson autographs since the centenary year of his death has been well maintained, and the writer is well aware that some of the very best of his letters have still to come into the market. Possibly they never will.

The sales of the following year opened with the dispersal of Mr. Barker's Royal autographs on January 22nd. On February 19th, 279 lots belonging to him and relating to Napoleon fetched only £147 5s. 6d. There was another autograph sale at "Sotheby's" on February 26, 1906, when 327 lots yielded £779 18s. Nelsonians were still very much to the fore.

An important bundle of Temple-Greville-Lyttelton-Pitt MSS. was sold for £10 15s. I also notice the following interesting items:—

On the last day of a mixed book and autograph sale, March 27-31, 1906, Ben Jonson's Bible with the words Benedica Dominum in omni tempore Semper laus eius in ore meo (Psa. xxxii.), fetched £320. A 2 pp. folio A.L.S. of General Washington (July 20, 1788) was sold for £26 10s., and a number of documents signed by Napoleon averaged about £3. One page of holograph notes in pencil, made at St. Helena by Napoleon, and relating to "Montholon's MÉmoires," fetched £16 5s. and another £10. A series of documents and letters signed by Napoleon III. averaged from 1s. to 2s.! The autograph section of this sale, including only 123 lots, realised £981 13s.

The autograph sale of May 19th, at "Sotheby's," was distinguished by a wealth of English Royal autographs and a small series of letters by Lady Hamilton:—

In this sale 332 lots brought a total of £1,235.

The sale of July 9-10, 1906, attracted a crowd of Wesley autograph buyers. The 296 lots sold realised a total of £1,069 17s. 6d. The seven unpublished letters of Wesley fetched from £2 to £9 5s.—averaging over £4. Oliver Goldsmith's desk-chair figured between some copies of letters by Frederick the Great and the probate of a Wesley will. It went for £39. Another sale on December 1st, comprising 242 lots, brought a total of £725 14s. In this sale some letters of the actress "Kitty Clive" were sold at £17 and £3 3s. respectively. The latter had been mutilated.

The autograph season of 1907 began with a two-days' sale at "Sotheby's"—January 21st-22nd. The 743 lots disposed of realised a total of £1,210 14s. 6d. Another series of eleven Disraeli letters was sold at good prices, ranging from £9 12s. 6d. ("Heard Macaulay's best speech ... but between ourselves I could floor them all. This entress nous (sic). I was never more confident of anything than that I could carry everything before me in that house. The Time will come," January 7, 1833) to £2 12s. In this sale Messrs. Maggs acquired a series of twenty-five letters of Johnson to Mrs. Piozzi for £240. Mrs. Mainwaring, of Brynbella, gave £94 for five volumes of "Piozziana," presented by the writer, H. L. Piozzi, in 1810, to her adopted nephew and heir, John Piozzi Salusbury. At the sale of June 3-4, 1907, Messrs. Sotheby disposed of 459 lots for £1,101 19s. A series of letters about Keats, addressed to John Taylor the publisher, was sold for £44; a notable advance was made in the price of Thackeray letters; Disraeli letters showed a distinct fall, one selling for only 16s., and a very fine letter of Samuel Pepys, covering four folio pages, went to Mr. Sabin for £22. The 315 lots sold on November 8th realised £1,095. For thirty-six letters addressed to Lady Blessington, by Thackeray, Dickens, and others, Mr. Sabin gave £315. A single letter of Shelley's brought £46, and six letters of Byron to Trelawny £70. A letter of Charles I. to the Elector Palatine went to the late Mr. W. Brown for £56.

On March 10-11, 1908, a two-days' autograph sale of 557 lots realised a total of £1,191. A number of Nelson documents, the property of the late Viscount Bridport, Duke of BrontÉ, were sold for £125.

Six days in June were taken up by the sale of autographs. On June 1, 254 lots realised £260. At this sale I secured for 5s. two most interesting letters of Captain Wright, whose death in the Temple (October, 1805) brought so much obloquy on Napoleon.

Messrs. Sotheby devoted no less than four days (June 15th-18th) to the dispersal of another section of the Phillipps Library. The 855 lots brought £3,796 19s. The sale was devoid of any sensational Incidents.

On July 3rd, 252 lots were sold in Wellington Street for £415 18s. Sixteen important letters of Mr. Gladstone sold for £4 10s., and I secured several very interesting Disraeli letters at prices varying from 15s. to 21s. At this sale Disraeli letters went as low as 2s., 3s., 5s., and 7s. A fine series of Thomas Carlyle letters varied in price from £2 2s. to £8 15s. The Sir Arthur Vicars' sale of heraldic and genealogical MSS. (July 27th-28th) excited some interest. The 671 lots brought a total of £1,571 10s. The sale of November 16-17, 1908, was of more than ordinary interest, and the 334 lots of which it was made up realised £1,007 9s. Amongst the interesting MSS. disposed of were—

The season of 1909 opened with the Stoddart Sale of historical MSS. (February 22nd-23rd). In this sale 404 lots brought £510 6s. The fine A.L.S. of Mrs. Siddons, now in my collection, fetched £12 5s., or £2 less than it did thirty years ago. The price of Nelson letters was well maintained, a small collection of them, with portraits and sundry relics, fetching £145. A letter to Lady Hamilton, dated March 23, 1801, although covering only half a page, went for £31. On March 1st (a one-day's sale) 201 lots brought £798 2s. 6d. A short letter of Keats sold for £25 10s., two A.L.S. of James Wolfe for £35 10s., and a fine holograph letter of Raphael Sanzio d'Urbino for £41. A series of MSS. relating to the American War of Independence (including four letters and documents signed by Washington) was purchased by Messrs. Maggs for £40. I have already alluded to the sale of June 9th-10th, from which the Windham correspondence was withdrawn. The remaining 524 lots realised no less than £2,145 10s. 6d. A series of twenty-four Nelson letters and other MSS. relating to him was purchased by Mr. Sabin for £121, a very low price considering that fourteen letters of Lady Hamilton went with the others, as well as Nelson's original will and seven codicils, from which eight signatures had been removed! Mr. Quaritch, at this sale, gave £275 for the correspondence of John Robinson, Secretary of the Treasury, 1770 to 1782, which included 194 letters from George III. These MSS. have an important bearing on both American and British history, and ought to have been acquired by the nation along with the Windham papers. A one-day's sale on July 22nd, consisting of only 269 lots, realised £1,113 14s. 6d., and another on December 17th, composed of 269 lots, brought a total of £1,318 6s. A rise in price at both these sales was very marked. In the first a song of Burns (2 pp.) fetched £57, and two unpublished letters of Lord Byron £17 10s. and £28 respectively. £20 was paid for some notes of Goethe in pencil, and £40 for a 2 pp. 8vo letter of Shelley. It was in the latter that the twenty-four letters of Beethoven were sold for £660. On the same day Mr. Cromwell gave £31 for an exceedingly interesting letter addressed to the Genevan Senate, signed by Oliver Cromwell.

On the 28th of January of the present year (1910) 264 lots realised £742 13s. 6d. It was on this occasion that £50 was given for an 8½ pp. 8vo letter of Charlotte BrontË. It is doubtless a high price, but only just before Mr. Sabin paid £17 10s. for a letter of Mr. R. Waldo Emerson to Thomas Carlyle (October 7, 1835), and Mr. Quaritch gave £56 for a 2 pp. 4to letter of George Washington to S. Powell (May 25, 1786). Within a few days no less than £81 was expended on a blue Hawaian postage-stamp, in Leicester Square. About a quarter of that sum gave Mr. Sabin, on February 28th, a long holograph poem of Frederick the Great addressed to Algarotti, beginning with the lines:—

The cost of the Hawaian "specimen" would have sufficed to buy both the poem of the Prussian King and Charlotte BrontË's touching confession that the "only glimpses of society she ever had were obtained in her vocation of governess," and her earnest appeal to the necessity of a creed.