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Lot 161: longfelloow Signature and Date 1894

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:240.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 800.00 USD
Lot  161: longfelloow Signature and Date 1894
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>Rights To A “Longfellow” Poem Are Sold</b>

<b>HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, American Poet.</b>
Signature with date, “Henry W. Longfellow / 1881” on a 2.25” x 4.5” piece of paper which is mounted to cardstock, Choice Very Fine. Written in brown ink, with an ink smudge between “l” and “o”. Also, an excellent 2-page Letter Signed, “Sam Ward,” January 6, 1894, Washington, 7.5” x 4.75”, Choice Very Fine, addressed to Robert Bonner. Ward was a literary broker for Longfellow and sold publication rights to his poem, “The Hanging of the Crane,” to Bonner for the unheard of sum of $4,000 (the highest price any single poem had brought up to that date). The transaction is referred to here: “I shall be extremely sorry, if after our correspondence and my well-meaning efforts to bring you and Mr. Longfellow in conjunction, there should be any ‘hitch’ in the happy conclusion of the negocio....I had just time to inclose your check to the poet and express the hope that such prompt guerdon would be accepted in a kindred spirit...Senator Sumner..expressed to me his doubt, whether it would accomplish its purpose; and this induces me...to wash my hands whether the “crane” is hung in the Weekly Ledger or in the sleepy embrace of paste boards.” Minor soiling on page 2. This transaction is referenced on page 365 of Lately Thomas’ book, “Sam Ward, King of the Lobby.” Excellent Longfellow content. (2 items)