Add to Want List
Rare and Antiquarian Books

Letters and Holographic Documents

Some of our most valuable and collectible items in the Rare Book Room are letters and holographic documents from authors and famous people throughout history. When browsing through these items, be sure to keep in mind an important distinction between letters and holographic documents. While letters can be typed or handwritten, holographic documents are documents that have been completely handwritten in the hand that signed the paper. Some of the letters showcased were written from authors to other writers, and others are personal missives in the form of journals and diaries. As with all delicate and fragile items, careful and appropriate care and handling is required, but these letters are well worth the trouble, as they often provide deep and personal insight into our favorite authors and historical figures.

Results 1 - 15 of 118
EVERYBODY'S POLITICAL WHAT'S WHAT? Manuscript Page, Page Proofs and 3 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED...

EVERYBODY'S POLITICAL WHAT'S WHAT? Manuscript Page, Page Proofs and 3 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED (ALSs) by SHAW

by SHAW, George Bernard

  • Used
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good to Near Fine in a custom slipcase
Edition
First Edition
Seller
Fleetwood, Pennsylvania
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£4,963.12
£8.00 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
London: Constable and Company Ltd., 1943 and 1944. First Edition. Letter. Very Good to Near Fine in a custom slipcase. Laurence A246 for the printed book. This collection, all housed in a green cloth chemise within a half green morocco slipcase gilt-lettered on the spine and front cover, consists of seven items related to the book: a single page typed Manuscript Revised Contents Table dated 21 August 1943 with several corrections in Shaw's hand numbering about 30 words; three examples of proof pages for the title page with simple corrections by Shaw including the elimination of "Machiavelli Modernized" from the title (noted by Laurence as being eliminated by Shaw in the final page-proof); and three AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED by Shaw with his initials (two on postcards and one on both sides of a small sheet of paper), one letter in Pitman's Shorthand (with a typed transcript), all to John Wardrop regarding proofs and the index for the book as well as Shaw's wife's illness. Some excerpts: "I always sign… Read More
Item Price
£4,963.12
£8.00 shipping to USA
ARCHIVE OF LETTERS: 21 pages

ARCHIVE OF LETTERS: 21 pages

by McCOURT, Frank

  • Used
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Folds from mailing. Near Fine
Seller
Fleetwood, Pennsylvania
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£7,444.69
£8.00 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
1983 - 1990. Letters. Folds from mailing. Near Fine. Superb archive of seven letters from the author of ANGELA'S ASHES to R'Lene Dahlberg, fellow teacher at Stuyvesant High School, friend, wife of author Edward Dahlberg, and muse. Mostly chatty correspondence, all but two pages handwritten by McCourt, complete with hand-addressed envelopes and mostly written in New York City. In one letter McCourt describes being at Rockaway Beach with his daughter Maggie who is searching for her lost hamster with a friend: "The little bugger won't come out. I've tempted him with everything from carrots to watercress. I've made assorted seductive noises. I've exposed mineself. I've even promised him a night out with a hamsteress. To no avail. Maggie & Clare are less interested in hamsters than in boys. It's all boys now. Boys, boys, boys. I'll break her face. She checks herself out in the mirror by the hour. I told her cut it out. She [sic] wearing out the mirror. Also, I'm getting an education in teeny bop mating… Read More
Item Price
£7,444.69
£8.00 shipping to USA
Autograph letter signed Bellini to Count Rodolphe Apponyi

Autograph letter signed "Bellini" to Count Rodolphe Apponyi

by BELLINI, Vincenzo 1801-1835

  • Used
  • Signed
Condition
Used
Seller
Syosset, New York
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£3,470.22
£12.50 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
2 pp. of a bifolium. Octavo. Dated Monday morning. Postmarked [?]January 12, 1835. With "Weynen Superfin" blindstamped to upper portions of leaves. Integral address panel with the recipient's name and the address of the Austrian Embassy in Paris to final page. With fully intact red wax seal. In Italian and French (with translation). Bellini tries to secure the Count a place at the première of his latest opera and invites the Count's wife to one of its dress rehearsals. "... I met your cousin at Madame Graham's and I begged him to tell you that I had gone to the Bureau des Italiens to try to grant your wish ... therefore, if the day of the first performance falls on a day when the halls are occupied almost entirely by subscribers, you'll get priority ... Tell [the Countess] I am sorry I am not yet able to leave my desk, since I'm always working on the opera. I hope she will want to honor me by coming to some dress rehearsal, to give me advice with her delicate musical taste ... " Slightly worn… Read More
Item Price
£3,470.22
£12.50 shipping to USA
MASSIVE ARCHIVE OF THOUSANDS OF ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND PHOTOGRAPHIC SLIDES, ALONG WITH NUMEROUS...

MASSIVE ARCHIVE OF THOUSANDS OF ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND PHOTOGRAPHIC SLIDES, ALONG WITH NUMEROUS AUDIO RECORDINGS, COMPILED BY JACOB HARRIS, AN AMERICAN WHO SERVED AS A SENIOR POLICE ADVISOR IN VIETNAM AND THAILAND DURING THE VIETNAM WAR

by HARRIS, JACOB

  • Used
  • first
Condition
Used
Edition
First edition
Seller
Greencastle, Pennsylvania
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£11,911.50
£9.50 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Vietnam, Thailand, and elsewhere in Asia as well as the United States, Europe, and the Middle East ca. 1964-1974: Compiled by Jacob Harris, an American who served as a Senior Police Advisor in Vietnam and Thailand during the Vietnam War, 1964 - 1974., 1964 - 1974. First edition. A large and remarkable archive of images from Vietnam and Thailand, covering the decade from the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the beginning of the buildup of American forces in Vietnam to a year before the evacuation of the American embassy. Most notable are the many images showing the training of local security forces by American civil and military advisors. The collection was compiled by Jacob Harris, an employee of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Public Safety (OPS), whose task was to train Vietnamese and Thai police and counterinsurgency forces. Most of the images, in the form of photographs and photographic slides, were created by Harris, his wife, or his associates, and… Read More
Item Price
£11,911.50
£9.50 shipping to USA
The Russian Novelist, Poet and Playwright Writes Out and Signs a Quotation from French...
More Photos

The Russian Novelist, Poet and Playwright Writes Out and Signs a Quotation from French Philosopher Voltaire

by TURGENEV, IVAN

  • Used
  • Signed
Condition
Used
Seller
New York, New York
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£4,764.60
£15.00 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
TURGENEV, IVAN. (1818-1883). Russian novelist, poet, and playwright; his novel Fathers and Sons is a masterpiece of 19th-century Russian literature. AMsS. ("Ivan Tourguineff"). 1p. Small 8vo. Bade[n], 1869. In French with translation on stationery blind-embossed with his initials. A quatrain from part of a longer work ("Stances Irregulières") that Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) sent to King Frederick the Great's sister, Princess (later Queen) Louisa Ulrika of Sweden (1720-1782), in January 1747.
"S'occuper c'est savoir jouir
L'oisiveté pèse et tourmente;
L'âme est un feu, qu'il faut nourrir
Et qui s'éteint, s'il ne s'augmente"
[Translation:]
"To keep busy is to know how to enjoy
Idleness weighs and torments;
The soul is a fire, which must be fed
And which goes out, if it does not grow"Following his education in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Turgenev left for Berlin to study philosophy and history at the university where he became enamored of Germany and its development since the Age… Read More
Item Price
£4,764.60
£15.00 shipping to USA
Handwritten Letters from Stephen Crane to Elbert Hubbard and Related Ephemera
More Photos

Handwritten Letters from Stephen Crane to Elbert Hubbard and Related Ephemera

by [CRANE, Stephen]; [HUBBARD, Elbert]; [ROYCROFT] [SIGNED]

  • Used
  • Paperback
Condition
Used
Binding
Paperback
Seller
Chicago, Illinois
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£7,941.00
£4.50 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
This is a unique collection of paper ephemera regarding an 1895 celebratory dinner honoring Stephen Crane, whose The Red Badge of Courage was at the time a modest success in its second printing. The event was hosted by Elbert Hubbard, the influential publisher, editor, and founder of the Roycroft arts and crafts community. These items belonged to Edith Maclure Love, a friend of both Stephen Crane and Elbert Hubbard. The following items are included in this sale: -Two handwritten letters from Stephen Crane to Elbert Hubbard, both signed -Program and menu from an event by The Society of the Philistines honoring Mr. Crane, December 19, 1895 -First issue of Roycroft Quarterly magazine featuring a medley of Crane's works, a souvenir of the dinner The two brief letters are written from Hartwood, N.Y. and dated Dec. 5th and Jan. 28. The year is not stated but 1895/96 is very likely. The first letter references Mr. Crane traveling to Buffalo for the upcoming dinner in his honor on Dec. 19, 1895. It is… Read More
Item Price
£7,941.00
£4.50 shipping to USA
Correspondence from Julia Child to Beverly Jackson, with photographs and other materials
More Photos

Correspondence from Julia Child to Beverly Jackson, with photographs and other materials

by Child, Julia; Beverly Jackson

  • Used
Condition
Used
Seller
Alfred, Maine
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£5,955.75
£15.75 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
[Santa Barbara; Cambridge, 2003. A convolute of correspondence, photographs, and other materials documenting the relationship between American icon Julia Child, and Beverly Jackson, reporter, novelist, collector, and a legend of the social circles of Santa Barbara. The two were long-time friends, and neighbors in Santa Barbara's Montecito. ~ Contents: Fifteen original notecards or postcards, typed or handwritten, signed by Julia Child; one TLS; one fax, and one TLS in photocopy. Some on Child's Montecito Shores, Santa Barbara stationery, some on notecards of Julia Child Productions (SB), and some on notecards from the Irving Street, Cambridge home. Most of the correspondence is short, polite "thank yous" and quick inquiries, for visits, meals shared, etc. ~ Eight original photographs (various sizes & dates), including black and white press print by Alan Berliner (of Julia with Robert Mondavi and Robert Balzer); Julia with Reginald Faletti (1978) by Jackson; color snapshots of Julia in her kitchen,… Read More
Item Price
£5,955.75
£15.75 shipping to USA
Confidential Typed Letter Signed by WINSTON CHURCHILL
More Photos

"Confidential" Typed Letter Signed by WINSTON CHURCHILL: with handwritten additions by Churchill.

by Winston Churchill

  • Used
  • Signed
Condition
Used
Seller
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£3,970.50
£20.00 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
CHURCHILL "BUYS" BALFOUR A CAR!CHURCHILL, WINSTON S. "Confidential" typed letter signed by "Winston S. Churchill" as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the name of the recipient "Bran" and part of the date "13" handwritten by Churchill.One page with the blind-stamped stationery "Treasury Chambers, Whitehall, S.W.," dated August 13, 1928. 4to.The letter concerns funds that Churchill raised to purchase a car and cover living expenses for former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour: "The subscription list is the Balfour Testimonial Fund being now closed. I feel that you, who so kindly subscribed to that fund, will like to know how much was subscribed and to what purpose it has been put. The total amount received from members of both Houses of Parliament was £4,918.6.6. [~$450,000 in 2021] The car has been paid for and the balance has been handed to Lord Balfour to be used for his personal benefit in any way he may think fit. I may add that I have received from him a letter expressing his grateful thanks to the… Read More
Item Price
£3,970.50
£20.00 shipping to USA
Opposition et cases conjuguées sont reconciliées par Duchamp et Halberstadt = Opposition und...
More Photos

Opposition et cases conjuguées sont reconciliées par Duchamp et Halberstadt = Opposition und Schwesterfelder sind durch Duchamp et Halberstadt versöhnt = Opposition and sister squares are reconciled by Duchamp et Halberstadt.

by Henri Robert Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) and Vitaly Halberstadt with letter from Duchamp

  • Used
  • Paperback
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good to fine
Edition
First
Binding
Paperback
Seller
Fort Worth, Texas
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£5,955.75
£7.00 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
112+[1 ad] pages with diagrams and errata laid in. Square folio (12 1/4" x 10 1/4") bound in original publisher's wrappers in original onionskin jacket with a handwritten letter signed by Marcel Duchamp housed in a handcrafted archival enclosure by Octavaye. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 2273) First edition.
Letter by Marcel Duchamp to Richard Hulbeck 25 October 1947. Reads as follows: Dear Hulbeck, The pictures are not back and I am afraid won't be back for some months. Schweizer, the representative there is in France and is coming back in a few weeks or days. He will have exact information about the return of the shipment. Don't worry and I will call you up some day soon. Affectueusement Marcel.
Richard Hulsenbeck (1892-1972) was a German writer, poet and psychoanalyst. In 1920 he was editor of the Dada Almanach and wrote Dada siegt-Eine Bilanz des Dadaismus. After emigration to USA in 1923 he changed his name to Hulbeck.Curiosity has impelled the authors to elucidate a question which… Read More
Item Price
£5,955.75
£7.00 shipping to USA
TLS [with] Signed Photo
More Photos

TLS [with] Signed Photo

by PATTON, George S.

  • Used
  • Signed
Condition
Used
Seller
Beverly Hills, California
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£3,176.40
£20.00 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Fort Clark, Texas, 1938. Fort Clark, Texas: July 29, 1938. Typed letter signed "G.S. Patton, Jr." to "Morry" [Luxenberg] a friend and military uniform supplier. This letter is anticipating his general's stars just days after becoming a colonel. Patton was promoted to colonel on July 24, 1938, and given command of the 5th Cavalry at Fort Clark, Texas, and this letter was written on the 29th of July. Letter on single sheet stationary headed "Fifth Calvary/ Fort Clarkm Texas," (7 3/16 x 6 15/16 inches; 183 x 177 mm). Typed on recto only. Letter dated "July 29, 1938." Letter reads: "Dear Morry;/ Thanks a lot for the Eagles and for the good/ wishes about the stars which I hope will also come/ true./ If you plan to come to Clark you had better write/ the adjutant and ask him how many prospects there will/ be you see this is a pretty small place. I cant make/ inquiries for you as it would not look right./ With renewed thanks, I am/ Truly yours/ G S Patton [autograph]/ G. S. Patton Jr./ Col. 5th Cav."… Read More
Item Price
£3,176.40
£20.00 shipping to USA
The Witness Collection
More Photos

The Witness Collection

by Chambers, Whittaker [Alger Hiss, Scott Nearing, Richard Nixon et al.]

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Chicago, Illinois
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£5,161.65
£12.00 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Rare books, documents, correspondence, and ephemera, 1964. Chambers, Whittaker: Witness: New York: Random House, 1952. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original black boards and red top-stain and original dust jacket (not price-clipped). Faint toning to endpapers and spotting and dusting to page block; minor rubbing and edgewear to dust jacket, else near-fine. A bright and exceptional first printing of this notoriously brittle classic. Chambers, Whittaker: Cold Friday: New York: Random House, 1964. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original blue cloth with gold titling to spine and green top-stain and original dust jacket (not price-clipped). Small abrasion to front free endpaper and minor rubbing and edgewear to dust jacket with small closed tear to top hinge, else near-fine, which is uncommon for this increasingly hard to find book. Chambers, Whittaker: Can You Hear Their Voices? A Short Story: New York: International Pamphlets, 1932. First edition. Stapled pamphlet. 5 x 7 inches, 31… Read More
Item Price
£5,161.65
£12.00 shipping to USA
Please believe that I don't either love or hate the entire sex of women. - An 18 April 1929...
More Photos

Show Details

Description:
Royal Air Force Station Cattewater, Plymouth, 1929. Letter. This is an 18 April 1929 autograph letter signed by T. E. Lawrence to an Arab Revolt comrade, notable for Lawrence’s bold statements about both his public image and his uncomfortable, equivocal relationship with the opposite sex. Lawrence’s letter, on a single 9 x 7 inch (22.9 x 17.8 cm) sheet of laid paper, inked in 20 lines, reads: “338171 A/C Shaw | R A F. Cattewater | Plymouth. | 18.4.29 | Dear Leeson | We’ll have to meet in London probably, unless I | ever get to Nottingham again. That is as near as I | am likely to get to Manchester. And when? | God knows: not till after the Schneider Cup race, for which | I’m a cross between clerk and deck hand on a | RAF Motor Boat. | You do well to distrust the newspaper stories of me. | Gods, what a foul imagination they do conjure up! Because | I don’t drink or smoke or dance, all things can be invented. | Please believe that I don’t either love or hate the entire sex of | women. There are… Read More
Item Price
£6,749.85
£10.56 shipping to USA
“…I feel I can count upon you at any time when a need may arise…” - A 17 July 1922 autograph...
More Photos

Show Details

Description:
Colonial Office, Downing Street, London, 17 July 1922. Letter. This is Winston Churchill’s 17 July 1922 autograph signed letter to T. E. Lawrence accepting Lawrence’s resignation from the Colonial Office, accompanied by the original, franked envelope addressed and initialed in Churchill’s hand. This letter underscores the friendship and collaboration of two titanic twentieth century personalities and their shared work in securing post-First World War peace and political stability in the Middle East. From early 1921 to mid-1922, T. E. Lawrence “of Arabia” worked for then-Secretary of State for the Colonies Winston S. Churchill. Churchill had asked a reticent Lawrence to commit for a year. He gave Churchill more than he had promised, both in time and in achieved outcomes. Then, in July 1922, Churchill reluctantly released Lawrence from service. The autograph letter signed by Churchill fills the entire 8 x 10 inch (20.3 x 25.4 cm) front panel of a single, folded sheet of Churchill’s “Colonial… Read More
Item Price
£47,646.00
£10.56 shipping to USA
SIGNED MANUSCRIPT LETTER FROM SIR WILLIAM PETTY TO JOHN EVELYN.
More Photos

SIGNED MANUSCRIPT LETTER FROM SIR WILLIAM PETTY TO JOHN EVELYN.

by PETTY, Sir William. John EVELYN.:

  • Used
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used
Seller
Oxford, Oxfordshire
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£3,500.00
£30.40 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Dated March 24, 1674/5 .. Single page ink autograph letter with signature of William Petty, endorsed on verso by John Evelyn. At the lower margin is an ink note "Sir William Petty, to John Evelyn by whom it is endorsed, W. Upcott". This letter was taken from an old card folder with items connected with Samuel Pepys. The folder was put together by Willam Upcott (17791845) a well known librarian and author, who also collected large quanties of books, manuscripts, letters and other ephemera. Upcott revised for the press the first edition of John Evelyn's Diary, brought out by William Bray in 1818, and for the edition of 1827 he collated the copy with the original manuscript at Wotton and made corrections. In 1825 he further edited Evelyn's Miscellaneous Writings. The sheet is approximately 190 x 150 mm, 7½ x 6 inches, a narrow strip of paper pasted on verso at lefthand margin, neat note at lower margin by William Upcott, otherwise in very good condition. "Sir, I gather by circumstances that Sir Richard… Read More
Item Price
£3,500.00
£30.40 shipping to USA
The Eric Voegelin Collection
More Photos

The Eric Voegelin Collection

by Voegelin, Eric

  • Used
  • Paperback
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used
Binding
Paperback
Seller
Chicago, Illinois
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£19,852.50
£12.00 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Rare books, articles, and correspondence, 1928-1989. English and German language works. Voegelin, Erich: Ueber die form des amerikanischen geistes: Tübingen, Germany: Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1928. First edition. Original paper wrappers. Minor creasing and edgewear to wraps; former library sticker to spine and two-inch sticker scar to front wrap; library stamp to title page with penciled strike-through; otherwise leaves bright and unmarked. A scarce and well-preserved first edition of Voegelin's first published book (later translated as On the Form of the American Mind). [German language work]Voegelin, Erich: Rasse und staat: Tübingen, Germany: Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1933. First edition. Original paper wrappers. Minor creasing and edgewear to wrappers with some rubbing and spotting; chipping to head and foot of spine; faint sunning to wrappers; occasional pencil underlining and marginalia; otherwise well-preserved. [German language work]Voegelin, Erich: Die… Read More
Item Price
£19,852.50
£12.00 shipping to USA