Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 110, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1904 — RUSES OF AUTOGRAPH FIENDS. [ARTICLE]

RU SES OF AUTOGRAPH FIENDS.

One Telle of * Trick Which Scarcely ; Ever Failed to Brins a Letter, j “in autograph hunting the end always justifies the means, no matter how mean it may be," aald an enthusiast who owns a fine collection. “But nowadays it requires nothing less than genius to draw a letter from a real celebrity. Ail the old tricks are played out. A favorite scheme of former days for catching authors was to write asking questions about one of their books, the letter being so framed ns to show unusual familiarity with the work. Such an interrogation was delicately flattering and rarely failed to elicit an interesting and valuable reply, but at present all the lions are on their guard, and the response that comes back Is apt to be a typewritten affair from a secretary, beginning: ‘Mr. So-and-So directs me to say," etc. “I flatter myself that my own method was rather ingenious. I used to have little slips printed to look like newspaper clippings and reading, for instance, like this: “ ‘Mr. Blank, the well-known collector, yesterday purchased a copy of “Sky Blue. Thoughts” for $l5O, the high valuation being due to a remarkable sonnet on scrambled eggs written by the author upon the flyleaf.’ “Then I would send the slip to my celebrity with a note saying, ‘I ana Mr. Blank, and will you kindly inform me whether the autograph poem referred to is authentic?’ As a rule the ruse worked like a cknrm. One or two were brutal enough to send back the single word ‘No’ without signature! “Of course the sonnet mentioned In my supposed clipping wasn’t always on the same subject. I am the only collector on earth who possesses an autograph letter from Lord Tennyson denying warmly that he ever wrote an ode to pickled pigs’ feet.—New York Press.