University Archives is pleased to announce its September 28, 2022 sale. At over 410 lots, Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books offers collectors, dealers, and institutions the opportunity to acquire outstanding autographed material, relics, photographs, and more. Sale highlights in the Science & Space, U.S. Presidents, and Military History collecting categories will draw significant interest. Premiere items can also be found in the Music, Early American, and International / World Leaders collecting categories.
Science & Space
Space collectors will love a large pen sketch, measuring over 21” x 15,” hand-drawn and signed by Apollo XI astronaut Neil Armstrong, ca. 1990. The drawing depicts important elements of the Apollo XI moon landing, including the trajectories of the command and lunar modules, and even showing the dark side of the moon represented by hatch marks. Comes with provenance from Armstrong’s friend, a theatrical set designer from Cincinnati, and authenticated by Steve Zarelli Space Authentication.
Sir Isaac Newton’s 300+ word draft of a religious treatise questioning the concept of the Holy Trinity will intrigue collectors of Science, Religion, and Intellectual History alike. Newton’s autograph manuscript, believed to have been created around 1698, resumes a 4th Century debate concerning whether God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost were separate substances. In it, Newton poses the explosive question, was “God or any part of him…born of the Virgin”?
Albert Einstein wrote a 1p typed letter in German on September 3, 1939, one day after he and Leo Szilard, a fellow scientist and émigré, had drafted a blunt letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning that the Nazis were developing nuclear weapons, and sowing the seeds of what would become the Manhattan Project. Einstein excuses himself in this letter to a friend’s nephew by saying, “I do not have the time to handle the details of this matter personally” -- clearly, the fate of the world took priority!
Robert C. Merton, co-developer of the Black-Scholes-Merton formula which revolutionized modern financial trading and later earned him the 1997 Nobel Prize in Economics, signed his name under the handwritten formula on stationery from Stockholm’s Grand Hotel. The fact that the autograph and manuscript formula are contemporaneous to Merton’s being in Sweden to accept his Nobel Prize award make this piece especially valuable.
U.S. Presidents
A double-sided manuscript fragment comprising over 60 words in George Washington’s hand are from the draft of his First Inaugural Address, ca. January 1789, and was authenticated by Washington’s biographer, Jared Sparks, who compiled the 11-volume “The Writings of George Washington” (1833-1837). Washington’s original speech draft was never delivered; instead, it was replaced by a much shorter version “improved” by James Madison.
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson signed an April 19, 1790 letter addressed to fellow Declaration Signer Samuel Huntington, then Governor of Connecticut, announcing the suspension of a controversial clause of Alexander Hamilton’s 1789 Revenue Act. The clause had threatened the autonomy--and profits--of Virginia merchants by imposing duties on Potomac River-bound vessels. Hamilton may have wanted to balance the nation’s finances through the absorption of state debts, but states’ rights took the upper hand.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt penned a rare 1p autograph letter signed on White House stationery addressed to Frank C. Deering, an antiquarian, bibliophile, and fellow collector, on February 19, 1934. Roosevelt’s philately hobby is well-documented, but this letter concerned Roosevelt’s other passionate interest: collecting marine artwork related to the U.S. Navy.
Military History
An archive of over 40 documents ranging from 1786-1851, documents the earliest days of the U.S. Navy and include the signatures of Matthew C. Perry, William Bainbridge, David Porter, and other naval commanders and Navy Department officials. A ready-made collection of naval notables!
A bound volume of General Orders issued from the Adjutant General’s Office of the War Department between January 7 – November 3, 1865 includes printed military orders related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the demobilization of the Union Army, the situation of freedmen, and other military matters. General Orders No. 66, issued on April 16, 1865, announced “the untimely and lamentable death of the illustrious Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States…The distressing duty has devolved upon the Secretary of War to announce to the Armies of the United States, that… Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, died of a mortal wound inflicted upon him by an assassin…”
An archive of four pieces, dated between 1873-1889, are either signed by or include important content related to George A. Custer, Major Marcus Reno, and other Battle of Little Bighorn veterans. The military documents and letters can be tied to the disastrous battle itself; the immediate aftermath (recovery of relics and subsequent court-martials), and the Indian Wars in general, including the Massacre at Wounded Knee.
There are many more fascinating lots to discover in our September sale. We hope you can join us!
President Franklin D. Roosevelt penned a rare 1p autograph letter signed on White House stationery addressed to Frank C. Deering, an antiquarian, bibliophile, and fellow collector, on February 19, 1934. Roosevelt’s philately hobby is well-documented, but this letter concerned Roosevelt’s other passionate interest: collecting marine artwork related to the U.S. Navy.
Military History
An archive of over 40 documents ranging from 1786-1851, documents the earliest days of the U.S. Navy and include the signatures of Matthew C. Perry, William Bainbridge, David Porter, and other naval commanders and Navy Department officials. A ready-made collection of naval notables!
A bound volume of General Orders issued from the Adjutant General’s Office of the War Department between January 7 – November 3, 1865 includes printed military orders related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the demobilization of the Union Army, the situation of freedmen, and other military matters. General Orders No. 66, issued on April 16, 1865, announced “the untimely and lamentable death of the illustrious Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States…The distressing duty has devolved upon the Secretary of War to announce to the Armies of the United States, that… Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, died of a mortal wound inflicted upon him by an assassin…”
An archive of four pieces, dated between 1873-1889, are either signed by or include important content related to George A. Custer, Major Marcus Reno, and other Battle of Little Bighorn veterans. The military documents and letters can be tied to the disastrous battle itself; the immediate aftermath (recovery of relics and subsequent court-martials), and the Indian Wars in general, including the Massacre at Wounded Knee.
There are many more fascinating lots to discover in our September sale. We hope you can join us!