Extremely rare clipped signature, accompanied by an unsigned postcard photo of the author Signature: "Herman Melville", 4x1 fragment clipped from a letter. 1¾x¼-inch portion torn at lower left blank corner, lightly stained, light show-through from writing (not his) on verso. Overall, fine and rare. Accompanied by unsigned postcard photograph. B/w, 4¼x6. Fine condition. American novelist Herman Melville (1819-1891) first found fame with his romances: Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846) and Omoo, a Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas (1847). In 1851, his masterpiece, Moby-Dick; or The Whale, dedicated to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, introduced readers to some of literature's most enduring characters -- Captain Ahab, the cabin boy/narrator Ishmael, and Moby Dick, the great white whale. Two items.

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.

The author of The Red Badge of Courage writes from England, where he had settled two years earlier. Calling Card Signed: "Yours faithfully/ Stephen Crane/ March 16, 1899", on verso of his personal 3x1½ card, printed: "Stephen Crane./ Brede Place./ Sussex" (not visible in frame). Also includes a black and white 3x4½ photograph of the author, 2x3½ visible. America's foremost "naturalistic" author Stephen Crane (1871-1900) moved to England in 1897. Although Crane never served in the military, he won international acclaim with The Red Badge of Courage, his 1895 book that told the story of a young soldier during the American Civil War. He later served as a war correspondent, covering the Greco-Turkish War (1897) and Spanish-American War (1898) for foreign newspapers. Crane's signature is virtually unobtainable in any form. The one offered here is especially desirable as it was penned by him on his calling card. Crane suffered from tuberculosis and died in a German sanitarium the year he signed this card. He was 28. Card lightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 20½x11.

For an article he wrote featuring art by Luis Quintanilla, Hemingway pencils short notes on a magazine page, describing Quintanilla as, "My best friend in Spain." Autograph Note unsigned, 1p, 10x14. On a magazine page: "This guy [the artist who drew the pictures] is my best friend in Spain. We got him out of jail by the way." at upper right margin and "They cut out my lead to make room for the pictures." at right margin above article. Circa 1935. Page 26 from an "Esquire" magazine that features two drawings and the beginning of an article written by Hemingway. In the 1930s, American novelist and short story writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), who was a frequent contributor to "Esquire", wrote a series of 31 "letters" for the magazine. In this article, he writes about the growing tensions that would result in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Hemingway, who supported the Loyalist side and served as a war correspondent during that war (1937), used his experiences as the background for his most ambitious novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940).

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.…"

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.

Pleased that friend and fellow author Edwin Granberry is writing again, the author shares with him her relief that the frenzy over the movie version of her book has abated with the outbreak of war: "The world has far more important things to think about these days than me." Several other literary notables are mentioned in this letter. Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 3 pages, 7¼x10½. Atlanta, Georgia, 1940 September 23. To "My dear Mabel and Edwin [Granberry], you varmint". In part: "Here I've gone around feeling blue ever since I had the last news of you (Edwin) that you had given up any notion of writing any more. I had thought about what a waste of talent it was and had heroically restrined myself from writing and telling you so. Then, a month ago, vague rumors began trickling into my ears at parties that you were writing again. Don't ask me who told me because I don't know. I go places and meet two hundred strangers in thirteen and a half minutes, and some of them say, 'Oh, do you know Edwin Granberry who is doing some writing?' and before I could catch them they would disappear and twelve more strange faces would stand before me. I didn't believe a word I heard because I hear such remarkable stories about my own second book which is non-existent.…"

Scarce Typed DS: "Ayn Rand" on page 3, 3p, 8½x11, separate sheets. New York City, 1976 June 12 (dated by Rand). Letter of Agreement to Rand from Palo Alto Book Service. Begins: "Dear Ayn". In full: "This will serve as our Agreement for the Palo Alto Book Service for the purpose of promoting and selling the remaining inventory of The Ayn Rand Letter, The Objectivist, the bound copies of The Objectivist Newsletter, and the pamphlets published by The Objectivist Newsletter and The Objectivist. We will receive the physical inventory of the above as well as any remaining stock of your novels and non-fiction works, including Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, all of which are held by The Objectivist Book Service, Inc. The inventory will be shipped to us, insured, via book rate, or by truck, if that method should prove less expensive. We will share the cost of shipment with the Objectivist Book Service, Inc. The physical inventory shall, at all times, remain your property. We agree to insure the inventory for its replacement value, and shall share equally with you the cost of insurance. We shall be charged with the responsibility of maintaining the inventory in sound condition.…"

Archive of 16 letters written by Tarzan's creator to his son Jack between 1923 and 1935, plus one letter from Burroughs to a film company. He writes in depth about family matters, but also about the filming of a Tarzan movie. The letters are signed "Papa" or "OB" (Old Burroughs). A rare insight into the private and public life of the prolific author. Collection comprised of 1) Autograph Letter signed: "Papa", 1 page, 8½x11. North Platte, Nebraska, 1923 February 16. To "Dear Jack", in full: "We are just leaving North Platte, Nebr. The train shakes so that I cannot draw very well. I couldn't if it didn't shake at all, so what's the difference. Did I tell you that I found your valentine in my grip? The one of the lady kicking. That must be the way she feels before breakfast. I wired ahead for reservations on the Broadway Limited on the Pennsylvania RR so we will arrive in New York at 9:40 Sunday morning. It will be nice & wintry and cold out. The air feels & tastes & smells good. Love & kisses to my dear children." At the top of this letter Burroughs has drawn a four-panel cartoon featuring his sons Jack and Hulbert.

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.

. 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.

This framed image is signed and inscribed to a young woman named Mary Lawton Inscribed Photograph Mount Signed: "To Mary Lawton from G. Bernard Shaw", 15x11 visible, actual image 14x11 (visible) and mounted to a larger page. B/w. Dated November 1938. Includes plaque and fine decorative frame. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950) was born in Dublin, Ireland. During his life, he wrote dozens of plays, most famously Man and Superman (1903), Pygmalion (1913), and Saint Joan (1923). In addition to Shaw's prolific creative writings, he was also outspoken on politics, religion, and current events. One of his more unique passions was fighting for an improved alphabet. A book of his improved alphabet was published 12 years after his death to crickets. All his life, he wanted to be referred to as Bernard Shaw, but in his signature he always signed as G.B.S. or G. Bernard Shaw. In 1925, he received the Nobel Prize for literature. Thirteen years later, he became the first person to win both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award, the latter for the 1938 film Pygmalion. Frame lightly chipped around edges. Mounting page toned. Otherwise, fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 30½x20½.