Historical Civil War Autographs
 

 

Our Newsletter

Confirm Email

MasterCard
americanexpress.gif         visa.gif

Arts & Sciences

Search within this category:  

Products

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH (1807-82)

# 6986

American Poet

Signature, with sentiment, “Yours truly, Henry W. Longfellow,” on a 2” x 4 ½” slip of paper, with the notation, “From Cambridge, Mass[achusetts], Feb[ruary] 1868,” in another hand along the bottom edge.

Lightly and evenly toned, with show-through of old glue staining on the reverse.

OUT OF STOCK
 

MEAD, SAMUEL H. Father of World-Renowned Naturalist, Entomologist & Horticulturist Theodore Luqueer Mead

# 7842

On his first research trip to Florida, Theodore Luqueer Mead receives a letter from his father.

“Insect Pins (large) – I regret to report that after taking out each drawer in the Secretary & looking in all accessible segar Boxes I find Nary.”

Autograph Letter Signed, 5” x 8”, March 15, 1869, four pages on a folded letter-sheet, at the time of his sons’ first research trip to the Florida interior. Signed “Pop” at the conclusion, a full signature is incorporated both within the text of the letter and on the transmittal envelope, addressed to “Sam[ue]l H. Mead, Jr. or T.L. Mead, Enterprise, Florida,” and bearing a March 15, New York postmark.

Addressing his young sons in an amusing, colloquial manner, the senior Mead discusses travel to the heat and humidity of central Florida, “…I gather from your acc[oun]t that the Storms were simply disgusted with the inferior accommodations & barbarism generally of the South…”; the prevailing prices of Manhattan real estate, “…No. 45 Pearl St. which we sold 2 years ago at $25,200 sold at auction last week at $24,000, not much rise there…”; and the arrival of a new bicycle, “…The Velocipede has been sent home Bill $5.” Further detailed is his effort to send equipment for his sons’ scientific research, “Insect Pins (large) – I regret to report that after taking out each drawer in the Secretary & looking in all accessible segar [sic] Boxes I find Nary.”


In full:

                                           New York, Mar[ch] 15/[18]69.

                             Dear Ones,

This Monday morning, I received lots of letters from you. One from 8 am Mar[ch] 7 up to Mar. 11 when you were to start for Enterprise. One from Momma & Sam Mar. 11 containing account of the separation of the party you leaving John & sister with Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins. I gather from your acc[oun]t that the Storms were simply disgusted with the inferior accommodations & barbarism generally of the South & were consequently in a bad humor with the universe at large. Also, one letter from Theo dated Enterprise Mar. 7, requesting large insect pins & detailing excursions.

Your telegram reached me Mar. 11 in accordance with which I enclosed $400 in 20s & 50s greenbacks and sent by Southern Express to Theodore L. Mead or Sam[ue]l H. Mead, Jr., Enterprise, Florida.

[Page 2]

It will take a week you reach you. I immediately telegraphed to you at Savannah this fact but received a return message from the manager that you had left Savannah & asking direction. I replied (free of cost) to send the telegram to you at Enterprise by mail. This was very attentive on his part & quite unexpected by me. I supposed they did not care whether any given message was delivered or not.

I infer that you have had no opportunity to make your checks available. If you draw checks let me know, in order that I may be sure that there is money enough to your credit to meet them. You still have the $500 in Bank to your credit if you have not drawn against it. Mrs. Wendel has called & mentioned she & a party were going to Fortress Monroe. She would write you

[Page 3]

frequently I infer if she thought the letters would reach you.

H.M. Colton called in a great pinch for money, wanted $300 bad. He was really kind to Sam when a youngster & so I lent him $100 for 3 weeks. I guess he will pay me. Uncle Obadiah writes me that he would like to sell his farm for $25,000 which is a stunner. I don’t see it at much over half that.

No. 45 Pearl St. which we sold 2 years ago at $25,200 sold at auction last week at $24,000, not much rise there. Frank Luqueer is building 3 houses besides the 2 you know of, he has sold 1 of the three. Robert gets in his new house May 1. James is interested in some way in the building of a 49th St. house opposite his own house.

The Velocipede has been sent home Bill $5. The spokes are all firm but nothing has been done

[Page 4]

to the hubs, the cracks are not filled with putty but I suppose they are as sound as new ones, the cracks being superficial. Theo says that Southern C.O.D. means $2.50 additional on every $50 which pays the Express for taking the money. Fellow countrymen can these things be? I shall stop at Moore’s & pay if I am in time before shipment of F’s gun.

Insect Pins (large) – I regret to report that after taking out each drawer in the Secretary & looking in all accessible segar [sic] Boxes I find Nary.

If you remember the few possible places where you could have put them & tell me, after putting on your thinking cap I can find them or will purchase if you give technical description.

                                   Affect[ionately], Pop


On his first trip to Florida, shortly before the receipt of this letter, Theodore Luqueer Mead, 1852-1936, captured a butterfly specimen only encountered once before, beginning what would be the work of a lifetime in the state. After a butterfly collecting trip to Colorado and the Southwest in the early 1870s, graduation from Cornell University in 1877, and a second research trip to the West, Mead settled near Enterprise, Florida. Managing his citrus groves and continuing the work which so fascinated him over the course of sixty years, he subsequently became the foremost authority in the hybridization of flowers, particularly orchids. He also pioneered the spraying of warm water from artesian wells onto citrus trees, allowing the crop to survive sub-freezing temperatures. Mead Botanical Garden in Winter Park, Florida is named in his honor. Theodore’s brother, Samuel H. Mead, Jr., died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1875.

The pages are lightly toned, with easily reparable separation at two horizontal folds.

OUT OF STOCK
 

MEDILL, JOSEPH (1823-99)

# 7064

Canadian-Born Journalist; Editor of the Chicago Tribune; Mayor of Chicago – 1871-73

As influential editor of the Chicago Tribune, Medill was instrumental in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, and remained his staunch supporter throughout the Civil War. He served one term in office as mayor of Chicago, from 1871 to 1873.

Document Signed, Chicago, Illinois, June 25, 1873, “J. Medill,” as Chicago mayor, a partly printed 3 ¼” x 7 ½” check, payable to “S.Y. Prince” for $1.48 and drawn on the Chicago Police Fund.

There are a few pinholes along the left edge, which has been trimmed slightly, and there is a small area of paper loss in the lower left corner. The signature is unaffected by a punch cancellation at the center.

OUT OF STOCK
 

STANTON, ELIZABETH CADY (1815-1902)

# 6480

American Social Reformer; Author, Lecturer & Early Suffrage Movement Leader

Signed Card, 2 ¼” x 3 ½”, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.”

OUT OF STOCK
 

STOWE, HARRIETT BEECHER (1811-96)

# 6681

American Abolitionist Writer – Authored “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

Signed Card, 2 ¼” x 4 ¼”, with date and sentiment from Stowe’s Hartford, Connecticut home.

“Jan[uar]y 22, 1885. Very Truly Yours, H.B. Stowe, 49 Forest St., Hartford, Conn.

The card is lightly and evenly toned, with a few superficial stains.

OUT OF STOCK
 

STOWE, HARRIETT BEECHER (1811-96)

# 6981

American Abolitionist Writer – Authored “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

Signed Gold-Edged Card, 2 ¾” x 3 ¾”, with date and sentiment from her Hartford, Connecticut home.

“Truly Yours, H.B. Stowe, 49 Forest St., Hartford, Conn., Jan[uar]y 26, 1885.”

The card is lightly and evenly toned, with surface loss along the upper and lower edges, presumably from past mounting, and there are old glue stains on the reverse.

OUT OF STOCK
 

TILTON, THEODORE (1835-1907)

# 6580

American Poet & Abolitionist Newspaper Editor

A longtime associate of Henry Ward Beecher, Tilton filed charges against Beecher for “criminal intimacy” with his (Tilton’s) wife in 1874.

Signed Card, 2 ¼” x 3 ½”, “Truly yours, Theodore Tilton.”

The card is lightly toned and soiled and has a light diagonal crease in the lower left corner.

OUT OF STOCK
 

VOLCK, ADALBERT J. (1828-1912)

# 7182

Bavarian-Born Political Cartoonist & Caricaturist

A dentist by vocation, Volck supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. He savaged President Lincoln and the Union cause in political cartoons, acted as a courier for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and smuggled goods for the Confederate Army.

Autograph Document Signed, 4 ¼” x 7”, Baltimore, Maryland, April 26, 1878, “A.J. Volck,” a partly printed receipt for $37 on Volck’s Baltimore dental practice, received from a Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Neville; also fully accomplished by Volck, thus bearing a second signature in the heading.

The receipt is lightly and evenly toned, with light vertical folds.

OUT OF STOCK
 

WEST, BENJAMIN (1738-1820) American Painter

# 7939

Known for The Death of General Wolfe, Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky, and The Death of Nelson; Second President of the Royal Academy – 1792-1805

Original Engraving, 6 ¾” x 10 ¼” overall, with a printed facsimile signature beneath a 3 ½” x 4 ½” image of West, imprinted “G.H. Harlow.  J. Jenkins…FISHER, SON & CO., 1829.”

Lightly and evenly toned, with a few superficial stains.

Price: $25.00
Quantity: