Alcott, Louisa May; Barrie, J. M.; Haggard, H. Rider; Blackwood, Algernon; Hamsun, Knut; Wilder, Thornton; et al.: Autograph Collection of Ashley Trimble Cole

Description

This is an astonishing collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century literary autographs. The signatures have been carefully pasted onto heavy board pages, with the approximately 30 pages housed in a custom binding, imprinted with the owner’s name (and “Volume III”) in gilt on the front board. There are over 200 signatures contained herein, but among the standouts: Kate Douglas Wiggin; Edgar Saltus; Mary E. Wilkins; Rebecca Harding Davis; Joris-Karl Huysmans; Robert W. Chambers; Frances Hodgson Burnett; F. Marion Crawford; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Booth Tarkington; Owen Wister: Baroness Orczy; Louisa May Alcott; George MacDonald; H. Rider Haggard; J. M. Barrie; W. W. Jacobs; Algernon Blackwood; George du Maurier; James Branch Cabell; Knut Hamsun; Oliver Onions; Rafael Sabatini; Willa Cather; John Dos Passos; Thonton Wilder; Anthony Trollope; Maurice Leblanc; and J. B. Priestley. Some of the signatures include an inscription or a small portrait of the author, glued in by the album’s owner; some signatures are missing (the previous owner cut some out to frame separately), and there are a few loose pieces present. There’s some wear and soiling to the exterior binding, but the signatures are mostly near fine, with just the usual light yellowing from age.