Lot 123

1870s Autograph Album Containing 70+ Items, Signers Incl. Prominent Artists Hunt, Gifford, Jones, & More!

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1870s Autograph Album Containing 70+ Items, Signers Incl. Prominent Artists Hunt, Gifford, Jones, & More!

Estimate: $600 - $700

Current Bid: $300

(5 Bids)

June 17, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Live Auction
Wilton, CT, US

Description:

19th C. Artists
various, ca. 1853-1899
1870s Autograph Album Containing 70+ Items, Signers Incl. Prominent Artists Hunt, Gifford, Jones, & More!
Album

An 1870s scrapbook/autograph album containing approximately 74 items signed by some of the most notable American and European artists, writers, educators, religious leaders, politicians, and scientists of the day. Ca. 1853-1899. Various places. The items include autograph letters signed, manuscript quotations, partly printed partly manuscript documents signed, checks, and architectural drawings among other types, all affixed to the album pages by hinging or laying down. The material ranges from the mundane and transactional, to outstanding artistic and literary content. Please refer to catalog photos for additional information related to condition, which is overall very good. The green cloth-covered boards with black and gilt decoration and lettering exhibit moderate to severe surface loss, especially the front cover, and extend to the spine and back cover. Some internal breaks to the thread binding. A few pages are detached but included, and some are torn or partly missing. Mostly even toning throughout, with isolated insect damage and chipped edges. The album measures 9" x 11.625" x 1.25" overall.

The autographed material ranges from ca. 1853-1899, with the majority being from the late 1870s. The dedication inscription on the front flyleaf of the album reads: "S.G.W. Benjamin / from / Henrietta S. Doherty / Dec. 25, 1879." The bulk of the correspondence was addressed to the album owner/autograph collector, Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin (1837-1914), a foreign correspondent, illustrator, and diplomat who served as first American Minister to Persia (modern day Iran) in the early 1880s. The collected correspondence reflects Benjamin's varied interests, especially his focus on humanism and the liberal arts.

The material comes from various places, including towns in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, California, Washington, D.C., and other places. Of the material, more than 50% (roughly 40 pieces) represents artists: painters, sculptors, printmakers, illustrators, interior designers, and art critics. These artists belonged to the Impressionist, Hudson River Valley, and California schools, and specialized in portraits, marine, landscape, and botanical painting. Some of these famous artists include William Morris Hunt; Robert Swain Gifford; Hugh Bolton Jones; Francis Davis Millet, who died aboard the Titanic; and many others.

Other signers in the collection include novelists; poets; editors and journalists; children's book authors; missionaries; educators, such as professors and college administrators; physicians; naturalists; historians; politicians; and miscellaneous, notably the autograph of Rebecca W. Bates, one of the "American Army of Two" - two young daughters of a Scituate, Massachusetts lighthouse-keeper who singlehandedly thwarted an amphibious British attack during the War of 1812.

Not all of the album signers have been identified, so more research is needed!

Some of the more notable signers are organized first by category, and then alphabetically by last name:

Art

- Andrew Varick Stout Anthony
- William Holbrook Beard
- James Carroll Beckwith
- Albert Fitch Bellows
- George Henry Boughton
- George Loring Brown
- Milton Jones Burns
- Harry Chase
- Samuel Colman
- John Joseph Enneking
- Stephen James Ferris
- Mary Hallock Foote
- Frank Fowler
- Robert Swain Gifford
- Sanford Robinson Gifford
- Thomas Hill
- William Morris Hunt
- Daniel Huntington
- Hugh Bolton Jones
- Oliver Ingraham Lay
- William James Linton
- Robert Walker MacBeth
- Homer Dodge Martin
- Francis Blackwell Mayer
- Jervis McEntee
- Joseph Rusling Meeker
- Charles Henry Miller
- Francis Davis Millet
- David Dalhoff Neal
- James Craig Nicoll
- William Rudolf O'Donovan
- Arthur Quartley
- Charles Stanley Reinhart
- Thomas Addison Richards
- Ellen Robbins
- James David Smillie
- Walter Smith
- Anne Whitney
- Thomas Waterman Wood

Literature

- Henry Mills Alden
- Elizabeth Akers Allen
- Samuel R. Crocker
- Mary Mapes Dodge
- Ella Farman
- Paul Hamilton Hayne
- Josiah Gilbert Holland
- William Dean Howells
- George Lunt
- Horace Elisha Scudder

Religion & Education

- Martin Brewer Anderson
- Washington Gladden
- Mark Hopkins
- Edwards Amasa Park
- Elias Riggs

Science

- Edward Hammond Clarke
- John Fiske
- Paul A. Chadbourne

Politics

- John Hay, future U.S. Secretary of State
- John James Ingalls, U.S. Senator from Kansas

Miscellaneous

- Rebecca W. Bates, War of 1812 association

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This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 9" x 11.625" x 1.25"
  • Medium: Album

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000