Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Autograph Collections and Historic Manuscripts The title of this paper should perhaps be "The Autograph Mania." I am not an autograph collector in the ordinary acceptation of that term. I have only a kind of collateral interest in the subject, and in the more serious subject of collecting books and manuscripts. There have been several important autograph sales recently in the city of Philadelphia, and by some chance the handsomely illustrated catalogues were sent to me, giving the prices paid for the various manuscripts and autograph letters, and in a measure reviving the interest I felt in my younger days in this fascinating hobby, for with many collectors it is merely a hobby. These sales have suggested some reflections on the general subject. The student of history naturally drifts into an interest in manuscripts, letters, and documents relating to events and men of note. The temptation to collect and own them, to become a bibliophile in the department of history or literature, often follows, and, unless the collector is wise and conservative, this increasing and generally expensive taste is apt to degenerate into a mere collecting and accumulating habit. His library will grow in books and manuscripts without really stimulating him to study and digest the historical material in store. It seems but a single step from collecting historical works and manuscripts to collecting letters of historic or biographic value, and soon thereafter, unless the victim calls a halt, there is great danger of drifting into that absorbing state of crankiness which leads the collector to devote time, money, and valuable enthusiasm to gathering, classifying, and treasuring commonplace letters, notes, receipts, indeed scraps of paper, merely because they have been signed by men famous in history or literature, or in the musical or dramatic world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.