Autograph Quotation signed by Herman Melville, one of the rarest of all signatures, framed with a picture of Melville and an explanatory metal plaque. AQS: "Hours bright./Herman Melville/March 8, 1882.", 7¾x4¾. Herman Melville (1819-1891) worked at a young age as a cabin boy and sailor on merchant vessels. During an unsuccessful whaling expedition, he took part in a mutiny, was jailed and escaped. His seafaring inspired many of his later works, including Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846), Omoo, a Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas (1847) and his masterpiece, Moby Dick (1851). Moby Dick, unlike his earlier works, was neither a critical or financial success. Melville's later writings, such as Pierre (1852), The Confidence Man (1857) and the short stories "Bartleby the Scrivener" and "The Encantadas" reflected his despair and contempt for society's corruption, hypocrisy and materialism. He wrote this quotation at a period during which he withdrew from the literary world and took work as a customs inspector on the docks of New York. Melville returned to writing and published a collection of poetry, John Marr, and Other Sailors, as well as With Some Sea-Pieces (1888) and wrote a new novel, Billy Budd, unpublished until 1924.

A unique collection of letters by two legendary authors! This set includes a typed letter, signed by Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell in 1941, to the wife of a hospitalized friend. In it, she relates how reading Dracula helped her husband John Marsh recover from an illness: "Evidently the shock was beneficial, fro he began to get well the next day." Accompanied by a 1903 handwritten letter by Stoker. Comprises: (1) MARGARET MITCHELL. Typed Letter Signed:  "Margaret", 2p, 6½ x 9½. Atlanta, Georgia, 1941 February 13. To Mabel Granberry. In full: "I cannot tell you how joyful and relieved we were to have your letter of February 11th written from the hospital. I read your letter at least six times to make sure I wasn't being guilty of wishful thinking. How good it is to know that Edwin is 'likely to have good vision in both eyes.' What you and Edwin, Senior and Edwin, Junior must have suffered recently is something I do not like to contemplate. It seems to me that I have spent years in hospital rooms and draughty hospital corridors with seriously ill friends and relatives, so I can understand a little what you have undergone.…"

SIR WALTER SCOTT 1823 promissory note signed by Sir Walter Scott highlights relationship with publisher James Ballantyne. Promissory Note signed: "Walter Scott", 8x3¼. Edinburgh, 1823 May 3. The great Scottish poet and novelist agrees to repay his publisher in twelve months. In full: "Twelve months after date, pay to our order, at our Printing Office here, eight hundred and seventy five pounds sterling, for value received. James Ballantyne & Co." Sir WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832), considered to be the father of the historical novel, had first met JAMES BALLANTYNE (1772-1833) in 1783 while attending Kelso Grammar School. In 1799, Ballantyne privately printed the two pamphlets with which Scott began his writing career, An Apology for Tales of Terror and The Eve of St. John, a ballad, beginning a literary and business partnership that would last throughout Scott's lifetime. The greatest success of James Ballantyne and Co. came in 1808, when Scott's second narrative poem, Marmion, was printed by Ballantyne for publisher Archibald Constable (Scott's first narrative poem, The Lay of the Last Minstral, had been published by Constable in 1805). Scott's romantic work, Rob Roy (1818) was also published by James Ballantyne and Co.

The artist signed this copy of his book with a flourish, creating a unique signature that incorporates an original drawing Book signed: "Dali/1975" (signature embellished to become original drawing) on half-title page beneath printed signature: "Dali", 456p, 5x7½, hardcover. Dali: Confessiones Inconfessables, by Salvador Dali and André Parinaud, Editorial Bruguera, S.A.: 1975. First Spanish edition. A flamboyant painter and sometimes writer, sculptor, and experimental filmmaker, Dalí (1904-1989) was the best known of the surrealist artists, using bizarre dream imagery to create unforgettable and unmistakable landscapes of his inner world. In 1929, Dalí met Gala Eluard, a staunch Surrealist who later became his wife. During the height of his fame, he was dismissed formally from the Surrealist group in 1934 for his fascination with Hitler. Responding, Dalí stated "Surrealism? I AM Surrealism!" During 1940 and 1941, he and Gala moved to America, and it was here that Dalí began concentrating on more accepted themes. In the United States he engaged in an extensive amount of self-promotion and absurd activities.

Collection including a charming Christmas letter from the celebrated American author and the original mailing envelope in which it was sent Comprises: (1) Autograph Letter signed: "Harper" in black ink, 2p (front and verso of a single piece of card stock), 5¼x7½. 2009 December 17. On her personal stationery with emblazoned letterhead containing her initials: NHL (Nelle Harper Lee). To "Dear Don" In full: "Santa Claus arrived today!/ The candy is gorgeous and I do thank you for it. You have been so kind to me for so long, you are the best friend I never met!/ Merry Christmas, and may the new year bring you an abundance of good things!/ With love,/ Harper". Corners and edges gently worn. Otherwise, fine condition. (2) Envelope signed: "N.H. Lee" on seal flap with "Post Office Box 278/ Monroeville, Alabama 36461" printed beneath, 8x5½. Addressed to in the author's hand on front to "Mr. Don Salter/ 1201 New St. Francis Street/ Mobile, Alabama 36604". Postmarked Montgomery, Alabama, December 21, 2009. 44¢ Black Heritage stamp affixed featuring Anna Julia Cooper, a prominent African-American scholar and author of A Voice from the South: By A Woman from the South.

Signed 4½x7 autograph letter from a London hotel, writing that he hopes to lecture in Britain "if other & more necessary business shall permit." ALS: "Saml. L. Clemens", 1 page, 4½x7. Langham Hotel,/Portland Place, London. W, no year, October 18. To unknown recipient. Begins: "Sir". In full: "I think it will be 2 or 3 weeks before I shall really know whether I can lecture in Great Britain or not. So I am obliged to be thus indefinite in my reply. I certainly shall lecture about 8 or 10 times in this country if other & more necessary business shall permit." From the University of California Press review of Volume 5 of Mark Twain's Letters prepared by the Mark Twain Project at the University of California, Berkeley. "After beginning work on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, he [Clemens] set it aside to collaborate, almost as a lark, on a novel with Charles Dudley Warner. After a few months of intense labor in the winter of 1872-1873, they produced The Gilded Age, which gave a lasting name to the era it satirized.…"

This extremely rare piece is a 1924 yearbook from John Wayne's 1924 Glendale Union High School in Glendale, California. It shows the future Oscar winning actor as junior class vice-president and in football gear in the football section and is signed with his birth name Marion Morrison! Items signed with Wayne's birth name are both extremely rare and highly desirable! Book signed "Marion/Morrison" on page 121, with other signatures in unknown hands. B/w, 228 pages, bound in brown paper covers. Titled: "Stylus/1924". This book is a copy of the 1924 Stylus yearbook from Glendale Union High School in Glendale, California. It's autographed by junior class vice-president John Wayne with his birth name, Marion Morrison, on the junior class introduction page on page 121. It also has an unsigned photo of him in football gear in football team section on page 159. Wayne (1907-1979, born Marion Michael Morrison in Winterset, Iowa) appeared in more films (over 250) than any other star. Best known for his roles in Westerns and war movies, he was the embodiment of the American hero in over 200 films, fighting (on screen) for his country in many of them.

His signed autograph letter from 1884, framed with his picture and commemorative plaques to an overall size of 31x24 ALS: "C.L. Dodgson.", 1 page, 3¾x6. Ch[rist]. Ch[urch]., Oxford, 1884 May 18. To an unnamed recipient. In full: "My old friend, and your brother-in-law, Mr. F.H. Atkinson, tells me your mother & Sister are now in England. Can you tell me how long they are likely to remain, & what is their London address, as I might find some opportunity of calling, & renewing a pleasant acquaintance begun in Jersey last Eastertide." Oxford don and mathematician at Christ Church in Oxford, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) wrote this letter 19 years after his most famous work, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), was published. A shy, serious-minded young man, he nonetheless had his whimsical side, which he reverted to when around children, and with whom he did not stammer. Urged to pen the imaginative stories that he told to the daughters of Oxford Dean Henry Liddell, Dodgson transposed his name, Charles Lutwidge, to Ludovic Carolus, resulting in the name Lewis Carroll.

Cabinet card of the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the anti-slavery novel that contributed to the start of the Civil War Photograph signed "Harriet Beecher Stowe". B/w sepia tone, 3¾x5¼ cabinet card-style photograph mounted on 4¼x6½ card. Encouraged by her brother, temperance and anti-slavery Pastor Henry Ward Beecher, and her husband Calvin Elias Stowe, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly. She wrote a number of other novels during her career, but she's known primarily for this book, her first. Uncle Tom's Cabin was drawn from her personal experience. Kentucky, the state across the Ohio River from her home in Cincinnati, was a slave state, and her research included interviews with fugitive slaves and slave owners. First published as a serial in an anti-slavery newspaper, the "National Era", in 1851-1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin reached millions, first as a novel and then as a play. It was first performed on stage in Troy, New York on September 27, 1852, where it ran for 100 nights. Uncle Tom's Cabin angered Southerners and was important in solidifying sentiment in the North against slavery.

His handwritten quotation from an epic Celtic poem by Ossian and his signature. Autograph quotation unsigned: "Motto to Neustein, Adieu. Why dost thou build the hall, Son of the winged days? Thou lookest from thy towers today; yet a few years, and the blast of the Desert comes, it howls in thy empty Court. - Ossian". 6¾ x3½ page. Accompanied by his signature: "Byron", on a 2x1 slip of paper affixed to a 4½x2¾ card. GEORGE GORDON BYRON (1788-1824), the sixth Baron Byron, commonly known as Lord Byron was among the foremost English poets of the Romantic movement. Among his best-known works are the poems "She Walks in Beauty" (1814) and "So, We'll Go No More a Roving" (published 1830). Even more renowned are his narrative poems, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1818) and Don Juan, his 17-canto masterpiece (1819-1824). Byron was a political and social reformer, a defender even of the Luddites, but was also noted for his aristocratic excesses, which included huge debts, many love affairs and self-imposed exile from Britain (1816 to his death). He may even be considered the first celebrity; his wife Annabella even coined the term "Byromania.…"

. ALS: "Yours Truly/J.M. Barrie", 2p, 5x6. Leinster Corner, Lancaster Gate, W., 1906 February 3. To Miss Bowman. In full: "This is the present London company that is going on tour with Peter Pan, so there is no vacancy, but suppose you come here and have a talk with me. Say, on Tuesday at 5:30. This is the first house past Lancaster Gate in the Baywood Rd." Scottish novelist and playwright James Barrie is most recognized today for Peter Pan, a character based on the children in Barrie's life and on Barrie himself. The story of Peter Pan began with a book called The Little White Bird, published in 1902. The character, Peter, was introduced as a baby, and he was later developed into the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. The play premiered in 1904, and productions and adaptations are still common, including Steven Spielberg's movie, Hook (1991). Barrie also wrote What Every Woman Knows in 1908 and Mary Rose in 1920. Sir James Barrie's work is still popular today because of the many rich elements he took from his own life and the lives of people around him. He believed in the power of emotion, but he also was possessed of an irrepressible humor.

Recently arrived in London, he signs a handwritten 1937 letter apologizing for his late reply. He's been too sick to "do anything except moon & moan about." ALS: "Dylan Thomas.", 1 page, 4½x7. 68, Parliament Hill, Hampstead, N.W. 3., 1937 December 9. On imprinted letterhead to Mr. Byron. In full: "I want to apologise for not having written to you before, explaining why I didn't come up to town the week I intended. I've only just arrived here, after nearly a month of poverty and bad health in the country, a time when I really couldn't write any letters at all or do anything except moon & moan about. Could we meet this week, or early next week? I shall be in London, I hope, until just before Christmas. Now I am here I do hope I'll be able to get some work, and that, in spite of my rudeness in not writing to you or getting in touch with you in any way, you'll be able to help me. I [word crossed out] rang you up the day of of my arrival, but could get no answer. Apologies again." Although Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) had received immediate critical acclaim when his first book of poetry, Eighteen Poems, was published in 1934, and he followed it with a 1936 work, 25 Poems, he was living in poverty in England and Wales in 1937.