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University of Oklahoma Press, [1970s]. [Published date: 1970, Second edition, third printing 1974]. Softcover, xviii, 269 pp; 26 cm. Illustrated with more than eight hundred facsimiles and other reproductions, including signatures, documents, and portraits.
In good condition. Black and white pictorial paper covers have have light bumping and creasing to edges and corners Spine has two small square scratched patches where price stickers were removed taking the thin top layer of the cover with it. Light overall scuffing, aging and soiling to covers as well. Spine creased but binding is still sound. Pages are clean and unmarked. [From back cover] "An autograph letter or document," says Charles Hamilton, the author of this book, "is far more than a scrap of writing signed by a famous or unknown person. It may provide a new interpretation of a decisive battle, a vital clue for biographers, or a thought to change the course of history." The author then proceeds to prove his statement in this interesting and provocative book. From an introduction to the pleasures and values of collecting, he moves to many phases of the subject, including advice on building an autograph or manuscript collection, forgeries and how to identify them, scoundrels, postal franks, proxy signatures, the rarity and value of manuscripts of important people such as presidents of the United States, collecting in various fields, and the care and repair of manuscripts. More than 800 facsimiles and other reproductions enhance the value and interest of the text.