HALL (THOMAS HENRY HALL) CAINE - INSCRIBED MENU SIGNED 11/01/1895 CO-SIGNED BY: LT. GENERAL HENRY C. CORBIN, EDWARD EGGLESTON, EDWIN ARNOLD, WILLIAM HENRY APPLETON, ARTHUR HAWLEY SCRIBNER, THOMAS N. PAGE, ROBERT U. JOHNSON, FRANK R. STOCKTON, GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM, GEORGE WASHINGTON CABLE, FRED L. "THE SINGING BUCKAROO" SCOTT, JAMES B. "J. B." POND, FRANCIS HOPKINSON SMITH, SAMUEL SIDNEY McCLURE, HAMILTON W. MABIE, WILLIAM H. MCELROY, JULIAN RALPH, RIPLEY HITCHCOCK, WILLIAM HALSTED WILEY, ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, ALBERT SHAW, JOHN BRISBEN WACKER, JAMES THORNE HARPER, WILLIAM HENRY RIDEING, SAMUEL MACAULEY JACKSON, ALEXANDER WILSON DRAKE - HFSID 18504

HALL CAINE
As guest of honor at an Aldine Club dinner, he signs the menu, as do 34 literary guests, mostly celebrated writers and publishers.
Menu inscribed and signed: "To Major Pond/with fondest greetings/Hall Caine", 12x8½ open flat, 6x8½ closed. Signed on outside cover. Also signed on verso: "Hamilton W. Mabie", "Edward Eggleston", "Geo. W. Cable", "Frank H. Scott", "Frank R. Stockton", "Wm. H. McElroy", "Henry C. Corbin U. S. Army", "Julian Ralph", "Arthur H. Scribner", "Wm. W. Appleton", "Robert Underwood Johnson", "Ripley Hitchcock", "Wm. H. Wiley", "R. W. Raymond", "R. W. Rieder", "Geo. Haven Putnam", "Albert Shaw", "W. J. Curtis", "S. S. McClure", "Robert J. Finley", "F. Hopkinson Smith", "John Brisben Wacker", "F. E. Wallindge", "Jas. Thorne Harper", "Wm. H. Rideing", "William Carey", "Edwin Arnold", "Wm. D. Barbour", "Henry L. Smith", "Samuel Macauley Jackson", "James B. Pond", "J. Sandford Greaves", "A. W. Drake" and "W. Lewis Israel". In all 35 signatures. Dinner given by the Aldine Club in honor of Hall Caine, New York, Nov. 1, 1898. Caine is pictured on the menu. The Aldine Club, home of the Aldine Association, a New York literary dinner club, hosted many famous authors, including Mark Twain. Sir THOMAS HENRY HALL CAINE (1853-1931) was one of Great Britain's most read authors between 1893-1930. He was Secretary to and friend of poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whom he remembered in his 1882 work, Recollections of Rossetti. Caine published his first novel, The Shadow of a Crime, in 1885, and this was quickly followed by A Son of Hagar (1886) and The Deemster (1887). Caine's other works, many of which featured Biblical themes, include The Bondman and The Scapegoat (both 1890), Cap'n Davey's Honeymoon (1893), The Manxman (1894, his first big commercial success), The Christian (1897, which sold 650,000 copies), The Eternal City (1901, over a million copies sold worldwide) and The Prodigal Son (1904, novel and play). Caine, who edited King Albert's Book during WWI (to benefit Belgian refugees), was knighted in 1918 and published his last full-length novel in 1921. His Life of Christ, researched by him during several visits to the Holy Land, was published posthumously by his sons in 1938. HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE (1846-1916) was an essayist, literary critic and occasional fiction writer, as well as the longtime editor of Christian Union magazine, re-named The Outlook in 1893. His subjects ranged from Nature in New England (1890) to William Shakespeare: Poet, Dramatist and Man and Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know (1905). EDWARD EGGLESTON (1837-1902) held many jobs during his life - itinerant preacher, magazine editor, grammar school teacher and even laborer in Minnesota - but is know today primarily as an author and historian. His books and stories, which were popular in his day, are valued today more for their realism than their literary worth. Eggleston's works include The Hoosier Schoolmaster (1871), loosely based on the experiences of his brother and fellow teacher George Cary Eggleston, and The Circuit Rider: A Tale of the Heroic Age (1874), based on his own experiences as a traveling Methodist preacher. He turned to writing about history after a 1879 trip to Europe. Eggleston's most significant works in that subject include Beginners of a Nation (1896) and Transit of Civilization from England to America (1900). GEORGE WASHINGTON CABLE (1844-1925) was a journalist turned novelist who set his stories in his native New Orleans, especially the Creole community there. Although he had served in the Confederate army, his novels showed strong sympathy for the plight of African-Americans, and he wrote essays supporting civil rights. His friend Mark Twain, with whom he shared a lecture tour, called him "the South's finest literary genius" andpraised Cable as a writer and as the person with whom to tour New Orleans. His realistic portrayals of southern life, as influenced by its history, foreshadow twentieth century authors like William Faulkner. THOMAS NELSON PAGE (1853-1922) came from an old Virginia family ruined financially by the Civil War and Reconstruction. He wrote 18 books, including a biography of Robert E. Lee and many works of fiction. His writing idealized the pre-Civil War plantation South, as in his popular collection of short stories, In Ole Virginia (1887). President Wilson appointed Page Ambassador to Italy, where he served throughout World War I (1913-1919), writing a memoir of this experience. He promoted preservation of historic sites, including Jamestown and Yorktown. FRANK HALL SCOTT (1848-1912) joined the staff of Century magazine (originally called Scribner's) in 1870. He became Treasurer of the Century Company and, in 1893, its President. He was a founding member and a president of the Aldine Association. FRANK R. STOCKTON (1834-1902) wrote juvenile fiction while assistant editor of "St. Nicholas" magazine (1873-1881). His fame spread with the publication of his short story, "The Lady or the Tiger?" in 1882. In 1886, he published his finest work, The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Alshine, a novel about a South Pacific shipwreck. Stockton also wrote non-fiction books, including Personally Conducted, about touring Europe, and Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coast. WILLIAM H. McELROY, a journalist and author, was noted for writing biographic essays ("life sketches") of prominent New York politicians. HENRY CLARK CORBIN (1842-1909) was a Civil War volunteer, twice decorated for gallantry and rising in rank from 2nd lieutenant to brevet major general. In 1866, he joined the regular army, starting over as a 2nd lieutenant and serving ten years commanding Buffalo Soldiers in the American West. Appointed to the White House staff by President Hayes in 1877, he served as Secretary of the Sitting Bull Commission. He became a close confidant of President Garfield, and was with Garfield when he was shot and when he died. Appointed Adjutant General by President McKinley in 1898, he played a key role in organizing US force deployments for the war with Spain, sleeping in his office to keep up with the work load. However, he vocally criticized the Rough Riders as a detriment to the military effort, and successfully opposed the awarding of the Medal of Honor to Theodore Roosevelt. JULIAN RALPH (1853-1903) was a reporter for several newspapers, but principally the New York Sun (1875-1895). He made his reputation covering the adultery trial of Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, but is best remembered for covering the Lizzie Borden murder trial of 1893. (Sympathetic to Lizzie, he was invited to the reception given after her acquittal.) He also wrote novels and short stories, as well as a memoir. In 1881, ARTHUR HAWLEY SCRIBNER (1859-1932) joined the publishing company founded by his father, becoming Vice President of Charles Scribner's Sons in 1903, and President in 1928. WILLIAM W. APPLETON (1814-1889), with his brother John, headed the publishing firm of Appleton & Co., founded by his father Daniel. The firm publishing such important authors as Lewis Carroll, Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Darwin and John Stuart Mill, and also The New American Cyclopedia and Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography. ROBERT U. JOHNSON, an editor at Century magazine for 40 years, published the writings of noted conservationist John Muir. On a camping trip in 1889, Muir and Underwood conceived the campaign to create Yosemite National Park; he also encouraged Muir to found the Sierra Club (1892). Active in Italian war relief during World War I, he became US Ambassador to Italy (1920-1921). James RIPLEY HITCHCOCK (1857-1938) wrote several books of Western history and art, and, while associated with publishing houses like Appleton's and Harper's, edited the works of Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Zane Grey, Joel Chandler Harris, Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser. WILLIAM HALSTED WILEY (1842-1925) was co-founder, with his father and brother, of John Wiley & Sons Publishers. As President of the company, he focused its business on scientific and technical literature, which remains its specialty today. A Republican politician, he represented New Jersey's Eighth Congressional District in the US House (1903-1904, 1909-1911). ROSSITER W. RAYMOND (1840-1918) was a mining engineer, legal scholar and author, commended for gallantry as a member of General Fremont's staff during the Civil War. As US Commissioner of Mines and Mining Statistics in the West, he explored the region, and delivered comprehensive statistical reports to Congress. He testified before the Supreme Court on points of mining law. He wrote verse, including the oft-quoted poem "Life Is Eternal," later turned into a song by Carly Simon. GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM (1844-1930), studying in Germany when the Civil War broke out, returned to fight for the Union cause. Captured at the Battle of Cedar Creek (October 1864), he spent the war's duration as a POW, writing about this experience in a 1912 book. When his father, George P. Putnam, died in1872, Putnam became President of what was now G. P. Putnam's Sons Publishers. He held that post for 54 years. Putnam was active in many civic causes, lobbying successfully for stronger international copyright protection laws (1891). Putnam wrote several books, ranging from military history to children's stories. ALBERT SHAW (1857-1947) a journalist and scholarly expert on constitutional and international law, was editor of the American Monthly and Review of Reviews (1891-1937). SAMUEL S. McCLURE (1857-1949) was owner and editor of McClure's Magazine, which greatly illustrated the US magazine industry with its handsome illustrations and muck-racking journalism by Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell and others, exposing political and corporate corruption and labor violence. McClure, as a key figure in the muck-raking movement, was very influential in the Progressive movement. FRANCIS HOPKINSON SMITH (1838-1915) was an author, engineer and artist. While his naturalistic watercolor paintings won many awards, he may be best remembered for his engineering work, especially building the foundation of the Statue of Liberty. Two of his books, Tom Grogan (1896) and Caleb West (1898) were the best-selling American novels in the years of their publication. JOHN BRISBEN WACKER (1847-1931) published Cosmopolitan magazine from 1889-1905, greatly increasing its circulation and profitability before selling it to William Randolph Hearst. Also founded the Locomobile Company, manufacturer of steam and then luxury automobiles from 1899 to 1929. JAMES THORNE HARPER (1855-1939), the son of New York mayor and publishing mogul James Harper, worked with his brothers in what became the Harper Brothers publishing company. WILLIAM H. RIDEING (1853-1918) was a journalist, and the author of nine nonfiction books, most written for younger readers. Titles included Young Folks' History of London (1885) and The Boyhood of Living Authors (1887). EDWIN ARNOLD (1832-1904) was a British educator, journalist and author best known for transmitting the literature and ideas of India to the West. He wrote a life of Gautama Buddha (The Light of Asia, 1879) and translated the Bhagavid Gita into English. Arnold wrote the popular love poem "Destiny", and edited London's Daily Telegraph, which funded Stanley's search for Livingston. SAMUEL MACAULEY JACKSON (1851-1912), a Presbyterian minister and theologian, was assistant editor of the Bible Dictionary and secretary of the American Society of Church History. JAMES "J. B." POND (1838-1903), originally a journalist, was an active abolitionist and member of the Underground Railroad, won the Medal of Honor for his gallantry at the Battle of Baxter Springs (1863). In 1874, Pond bought the Lyceum Theatre Lecture Bureau, and became a hugely successful lecture and concert promoter. Among those promoted by Pond were Henry Ward Beecher, Mark Twain, Henry M. Stanley, P. T. Barnum, Frederick Douglass, Arthur Conan Doyle and Winston Churchill. ALEXANDER WILSON DRAKE (1843-1916) was an artist, art collector and critic. He headed the engraving departments of several major American magazines, including Scribner's and Century. His impressive art collection was sold at auction after his death. Also published posthumously was his Three Midnight Stories, illustrated with his own engravings. Liquid residue on front near bottom margin. Lightly toned. Fine condition.