CLARENCE DARROW Lawyer Clarence Darrow wrote about his socialist views - "I am of course a radical as I have always been" - and about his autobiography in this 1933 letter, written on his personalized letterhead. Autograph letter signed "Clarence Darrow.". Black ink notations in bottom left corner in unknown hand. 1 page, 7¼x10½, on Darrow's personal letterhead. Jan. 15, 1933. In full: "My dear Gerson - I am returning the $1.- Of course I am always only sorry that I can't send my best friends books, without their spending money to buy them But really the book is expensive and I have a good many friends (luckily) and I just can't do it. Of course I am glad you liked the book. I am sure that most of it concerns your own ideas. I am of course a radical as I have always been and hoping that our industrial system will be changed. No permanent good can come from the old. If there is any recovery it will last but a short time. I am working some on Technocracy and am glad to see how it is being taken up. If we were not Barbarians no one in the world would be poor. We open talk of you and wish we could see you and [illegible]. You will ever be close to us. read more...

JOSEPHINE "JOSIE" EARP Rich-content ALS from Wyatt Earp's wife to the man drafting the manuscript of Wyatt's autobiography, warning him that others may try to steal his material. She also fears - correctly - that "Wyatt ... is not long for this world." Autograph Letter signed: "Josie Earp", 3 pages (integral leaf), 6x8 folded, 12x8 open. Also signed "W. Earp" [by Josey] in the envelope return address. Vidal, California, 1925 February 19. To John H. Flood, Jr., Los Angeles. In full: "Your kind and always welcome letter came yesterday. Mr. E and I were very glad to hear from you again. And glad too that you at last got hold of some of the [2 words illegible] and sincerely hope that you will keep on getting it. I am also very happy to know that you have the story [Earp's autobiography] finished at last, for your sake and ours too. I know just how glad you must be to have it all done with, as I know Mr. Flood it has taken up so much of your time. But I think it will pay us well for all of the lost time. And we both wish to thank you for all of the trouble it has caused you. And we surely do appreciate all and everything you have done for us both read more...

SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE Signing in the text of this handwritten 1777 letter, he discusses his corrections to proofs of a legal address he delivered before the Society of Antiquaries Third-Person Autograph Letter Signed: "Sir William Blackstone" and "Sir Wm" in text, 1 page, 7½x4½. Wallingford, 1777 April 17, Monday morning. In full: "Sir William Blackstone returns to Mess. Bowzer and Nichols the Proof Sheets of his letter to Mr. Barrington & with them the MS. Copy. [Items not included.] Had he known the Society intended to have printed it immediately, he would have corrected it for the Press before it was sent to the Compositor, but believes the few Emendations he has made will not occasion any considerable Trouble. Sir Wm would have returned it sooner, but did not receive it till Saturday Afternoon."  English jurist and writer SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE (1723-1780) is referring to the publishing of his letter to Judge Daines Barrington, which he had read in 1775 before the Society of Antiquaries. read more...

CHARLES J. GUITEAU Awaiting trial for the assassination of the President in 1881, Guiteau signed this autograph letter demanding that an account of his life given to a prosecutor who had posed as a reporter and that the account be published in full in the NY Herald Autograph Letter signed: "CG", 2 pages (front and verso), 5x8. [Washington, D.C.], "Oct. 17" [1881]. To "Mr. Smith". In full: "I expected you today. I want to work on my book. Send a man tomorrow sure. I saw Saturday's republican. It contains a fine report generally. I don't think much of democratic papers. Send me Stalwart, N.Y. & Washington. If Caskill was not mean, he would allow my attorneys to copy from Bailey's dictation my autobiography & thus save me the trouble of dictating it. If he has a particle of honor he ought to do this considering how his Bailey got it. There is nothing I wish to withdraw. Bailey obtained the information on his, & Corkhill's statement that he was a reporter of the NY Herald, & promised to publish it in full in the Herald, & he said it would make 40 columns, that Mr. read more...

JOSIE EARP Writing to authorized biographer John Flood, Wyatt Earp's wife insists that "Mr. E. life story is not supposed to be like Billy the Kid or Wild Bill Hickock as he was an officer." Unfortunately, Flood's account, which Wyatt Earp considered the true story of his life, would never get published. Autograph Letter signed: "Mrs. Earp", 2 pages (front and verso), 8x10. Vidal. California, 1927 March 1. To "Dear Mr. Flood", in full: "I wrote to you several days ago. I hope you got my letter, and in the letter I tell you that we had a letter from Mr.[actor and friend William S.] Hart, but I cannot find it. But yesterday I looked for it - again. And I was lucky to find it. I had it put away in a dress pocket. So I am sending it to you today with another one we received yesterday. So you can see just how things stand. I fully intended to write to you and have you write to Wm. if it came back again not to try it again as I am afraid we will not be able to do anything with it. I can't understand why they will not except [sic] it. Of course, as you have said, you are not expert at story writing. And I am no critic. So we know now that there is a mistake somewhere But you can see for yourself what they all think of it. read more...

THE BURGER COURT All nine Supreme Court Justices signed this framed engraving of the Supreme Court building Engraving signed: "Harry A Blackmun", "Byron R. White", "Lewis F. Powell Jr.", "Potter Stewart". "Thurgood Marshall", "William H. Rehnquist", "Warren E Burger", "W Douglas" and "Wm J Brennan Jr.", 7¾x5½ overall, oval image 3½x2 (one surface). Printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The nine Justices that signed this image of the Supreme Court building served together from 1971, when Powell and Rehnquist joined the Court, to 1975, when Douglas retired. In 1974, Chief Justice Burger spoke for a unanimous Court upholding a subpoena for the Watergate tapes which resulted in President Nixon's resignation. In 1986, Chief Justice Burger retired and was succeeded by Associate Justice Rehnquist who served until his death in 2005. Frame lightly chipped at back corners. Otherwise, fine condition. Framed in Gallery of History style: 34½x22. read more...

WILLIAM BARCLAY "BAT" MASTERSON He pens a letter in correspondence to an individual stating they are relatives in which Masterson quickly replies with otherwise! Autograph Letter Signed: "W.B. Masterson". 2 pages, 8x10, loosely placed in 9½x11½ folio. Accompanied by original mailing envelope; heavily toned, soiled and worn. December 31, 1905, New York City, written to "Mr. Watson F. Masterson" of Ramsey, West Virginia. In full: "Dear Sir. Without going into details can assure you that we are not related; even remotely. My father was born in this state eighty years ago and moved to Illinois where I was born fifty one years ago. There are a great many families of Mastersons in Missouri and Iowa none of whom are related to mine. My father had but one brother and he was several years the eldest and has been dead about forty years and died without issue. Very respectfully." Masterson (1853-1921) was an American frontier gambler and buffalo hunter and a scout for the United States Army. read more...

WARREN BURGER COURT (1981-1986) 18x14 color photo of the US Supreme Court Justices, signed by all 9. This was the Court's membership from the arrival of Justice O'Connor until the retirement of Chief Justice Burger Photograph Mount signed: "John Paul Stevens", "Thurgood Marshall", "William H. Rehnquist", "Byron R. White", "Harry A. Blackmun", "William J. Brennan, Jr", "Warren E. Burger", "Sandra D. O'Connor", and "Lewis F. Powell, Jr". Color, 13½x10 image, affixed to 18x14 cardstock. The Justices have signed in the lower margin, in the same order as their photo line. WARREN E. BURGER (1907-1995), a Republican appointed by President Richard Nixon to replace Chief Justice Earl Warren, served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1969 until his retirement in 1986. His court upheld Miranda v. Arizona (source of the "Miranda warning"), decided 1973's abortion rights case Roe v. Wade read more...

JOSEPHINE "JOSIE" EARP Handwritten letter to friend and would-be biographer John Flood, only months after Wyatt Earp's death. "I am still worrying for my dear husband. I miss him so much." Autograph Letter signed: "Josephine Earp", 3 pages, 6x8 folded, otherwise 12x8. Oakland (California), 1929 September 25. To "Dear Mr. Flood", in full: "I did not mean to be slow to respond to your nice letter. I wanted to wait and see if I could be in Los Angeles in the next ten days but it seems now like I will not be able to get away until about the fifth, or six I did not mean to be slow to respond to your nice letter. I wanted to wait and see if I could be in Los Angeles in the next ten days but it seems now like I will not be able to get away until about the fifth, or six of Oct. and I know you cannot wait until then. I thank you very much for offering to wait a few days until I could get there. I will see you when I come to Vidal. I have many things that I must attend to before I go to the desert. I hope you are right to the gross or net but different attorneys have told me that you are wrong - we will have to wait and see. That is all that can be done. read more...