EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS 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.

HENRY DERINGER Rare handwritten note to his son saying "keep steady to your business and all will go right and straight" Autograph Note signed: "HD" and "H Deringer" in his hand as part of his son's name in the address, 2p, 7¼x9¾, front and verso. No place, no date, but circa 1833. Postscript written on verso of an address leaf addressed in his hand to his son: "John H Deringer Esq/Tioga Village/Tioga County/Penna". In full: "P.S. I am pleased to hear that you have commenced selling goods and that you are coming on so well, keep steady to your business and all will go right and straight." Ink note (unknown hand) on address side: "Henry Derringer [sic]/1833". Henry Deringer (1786-1868) invented the short barreled, heavy caliber pocket pistol that still bears his name. (The pistol type is spelled "Derringer"; only those of his manufacture are spelled with the single "r".) The popular weapon, easily concealable but packing a wallop, was "the weapon of choice of riverboat gamblers". John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln with an original Deringer. Deringer autographs are rare. Mailing fold at the "HD". Fragile.

JOHN HANCOCK Notes relating to payment. ANS: "Jo Hancock" at lower left of ADS: "Wm Winthrop", 1p, 7¼x3¾. Boston, 1772 June 7. Winthrop pens, in full: "Reced of Mr Joseph Ashley. Six pounds. Eight Shillings &4d by the Hand of Mr William Billings, to be indors'd on his Note or Bond, due to John Hancock Esq. for him." Hancock has crossed out the amount and written in full: "This Rec(eip)t not/yet Settled". Docketed on verso (unknown hand). John Hancock served as a member of the Massachusetts provincial legislature from 1766-1772. He was President of the Provincial Congress in 1774. A member of the Continental Congress (1775-1778), Hancock was President of Congress from 1775-1777 and was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. Light show through at right margin from docket on verso. ½-inch separation at blank mid-horizontal fold, pinhead-size hole at cross folds touches 1 letter. Irregular bottom edge, nicked at top and right edges. Folds do not touch signature. Overall, fine condition.

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER and HENRY M. FLAGLER John D. Rockefeller and Henry M. Flagler sign stock certificate for fifty shares. Stock Certificate signed: "J.D. Rockefeller" as President, "H.M. Flagler" as Secretaryand "J.A. Bostwick" as Treasurer of the Standard Oil Trust, 1p, 11¾x7½ with 4¼x7½ receipt portion attached at left, New York, 1884 May 6. Certifying that "Martin Snider is entitled to Fifty shares in the equity to the property held by the Trustees of the Standard Oil Trust...." Each share was valued at $100. The certificate was cancelled on February 10, 1898. This bond was sold by Snider, who has signed on verso, to Strong, Sturgis & Co. in 1891. The Standard Oil Trust, created in January 1882, placed all stocks and properties of over a dozen oil companies (including Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company of Ohio) into the control of nine trustees of which Rockefeller owned over a third of the combined holdings. The trust was dissolved by court decree in 1892. The patriarch of the Rockefeller family had organized Standard Oil Co. in 1870.

SAMUEL F.B. MORSE The artist and inventor signs this letter recommending that Congress purchase letters of General Henry Knox owned by a lady and wishing the courts would effectively put an end to the pirating of his telegraph invention. ALS: "Saml. F.B. Morse", 2p, 7¾x10. Po'keepsie, N.Y., 1849 July 23. To C.S. Daveis, Esq., Portland, Me. Daveis (1788-1865) was a prominent Maine attorney.In full: "Yours of the 17th inst I received on Saturday evening & this morning I called on Mrs Beekman and read her your letter. She feels that she has (as she undoubtedly has) a valuable deposit of papers, which ought to belong to the State or the United States Government. She is well disposed towards accommodating you with the sight and use of the letters of Gen. Knox. She says that the papers are contained in several boxes, and the search will be attended with some labor but that she will select out those of Gen. Knox and lay them by themselves. That she should be desirous of reaping pecuniary benefit from papers possessing so much value to the state, is both natural and proper, and she felt gratefully that part of your letter which promised her you did.

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER 10¼x14, Sepia photograph of the world's first billionaire shown in a suit and tie from the waist up. Photograph signed: "John D Rockefeller/May 7th 1923", Sepia, overall, 8x10 image, one surface. Merchant and businessman John D.Rockefeller, Sr. (1839-1937) established his first oil refinery in 1863 near Cleveland, Ohio. His enterprise became the largest in the region within three years; he incorporated the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in 1870 and bought out all of his major competitors by 1872. Rockefeller was a shrewd - critics claimed unscrupulous - business man - but the only legal problems he faced were anti-monopoly legislation and litigation, which he resisted through the use of holding companies. Rockefeller was the first billionaire, and the richest man of his time. Adjusted for inflation, he may have been the richest man of all time. From 1885 to 1910, he founded four philanthropic institutions, eventually contributing more than one-half billion dollars. The Rockefeller wealth, channeled through several foundations and trusts, remain major philanthropies.

SAMUEL F.B. MORSE One year before his first successful telegraph message, Morse signs an autograph letter to Treasury Secretary John Spencer, explaining that the cost of preparing the wire will be $10 more than his previous estimate. He'll still come in under budget! ALS: "Saml F.B. Morse", 1 page, 8x10. New York, 1843 May 1. To Secretary of the Treasury John C. Spencer. In full: "In my letter of the 29th ulto accompanying the contracts for the Telegraphic Wire, and the expenses of covering, I left a blank in the former which I observed was to be filled with a sum not exceeding 24 cents pr.lb. I have this moment heard from Paterson, and am enabled to fill the said blank with 22 cents. This varies the expense of Preparation of the Wire as given in my letter to the Department of 26th ulto from $1900 to $1910 - making the contracts for this part of the work of $690 less than the original estimates, instead of $700 - as therein stated." Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), a portrait painter and a founder and first President of the National Academy of Design (1826-1845, 1861), interested himself in the possibilities of a magnetic telegraph in 1832.

SAMUEL F.B. MORSE and SARAH E. MORSE The two sign a 3-page, handwritten 1863 letter to their son Willy, away at school Autograph letter signed: "Yr Affectionate Father/Saml F.B. Morse" and "Your loving mother/S.E. Morse", 1 page, 4½x7½. 5 West 32nd Street, 1863 November 22. To their son Willy. Samuel F. B. Morse married his second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Griswold, in 1848. In a three-page letter, Mrs. Morse writes about family affairs, about his pet "Spottie is full of mischief. He tears many things that comes in his way." She tells him she is "going to have somethings on Christmas" wanting to know if he has "enough handkerchiefs...." Beneath his wife's signature, Morse writes, in part: "I add a few lines to your dear mother's letter. She says the truth when she says she thinks of you every day. Both you & dear Arthur are constantly in our thoughts...You must do all you can to please Mrs. Charles, Mrs. Fay and the other teachers and be diligent in your Studies...." Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872) was an American painter and inventor. While attending Yale College Morse painted for a living and later studied art in Europe.

LOUIS CHEVROLET Extremely rare letter written as President of the Chevrolet Aircraft Corporation to an Assistant Engineer at Pitcairn Field in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Typed Letter signed: "Louis Chevrolet" as President of the Chevrolet Aircraft Corporation, 1¼p, 8½x11, separate sheets. Baltimore, Md., 1930 November 18. On company letterhead to Walter C. Clayton, Asst. Engr., Pitcairn Aircraft, Pitcairn Field, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. In part: "In regard to the first paragraph of your letter, we do not know exactly how much of a head the gasoline tank should have over the carburetor float, not having tried anything of the kind, but should judge that a minimum of six to eight inches would work satisfactorily on climbing. In level flight you probably will have plenty of gas head, and we are sending you a new blue print showing you where the float level is...As stated before, we have never contemplated using the Haywood Starter, but if it fits your scheme we will send a cylinder head to the Sky Specialties Company of Detroit and have them advise us the best place to put a boss in our cylinder head for the installation of their starter.