Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln Letters Lead University Archives Auction

An Edgar Allan Poe carte de visite from the early 1860s taken four days after the poet’s attempted suicide in 1848 features in University Archives’ online Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books & Photographs auction on October 21.

The sale contains the second installment, more than 60 lots, from The Douglas Wertman Collection, the majority of which are political items personally collected and curated by the longtime Secretary of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club.

Lot #1 is a John Adams signed presentation copy of Jonathan Mayhew's A Discourse, Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers; with Some Reflections on the Resistance Made to King Charles I (Boston: reprinted by Hall & Goss, 1818.) This sermon originally published in 1750 affirmed and legitimized the concept of political resistance against tyranny, as guided by Romans 13:1-7, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” (estimate: $20,000-$30,000)

An Abraham Lincoln one-page autograph letter, signed and addressed to Pennsylvania Gov. Andrew G. Curtain, dated July 25, 1864 asks Curtain to forward a thank-you note to a well-wisher who had presented Lincoln with a cane made from wood salvaged from the wreck of the Confederate ironclad vessel the U.S.S. Virginia which fought in the naval Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862 (estimate: $20,000-$30,000).

The Martin Luther King, Jr. typed letter signed, dated January 16, 1964, thanks a California professor for congratulating him on having been named as TIME magazine’s 'Man of the Year' for 1963 in a seven-page spread. As the first black man to receive the honor, King interpreted the award as a step in the right direction for the Civil Rights Movement (estimate: $5,000-$6,000).

Also going under the hammer is a John Hancock signed document, dated New Year’s Day, 1776, promoting a New Hampshire minuteman, William Scott, to the rank of Captain in the 16th Regiment of Foot. Scott had been wounded during the Battle of Bunker Hill, refusing to desert his command even though he was seriously injured. He later escaped a Canadian prison and avoided British capture at Fort Washington (estimate: $12,000-$15,000).

Other highlights include:

• an Edgar Allan Poe carte de visite after Mathew Brady as published by Edward Anthony in New York, not dated but probably from the early 1860s and known as the 'Ultima Thule' portrait; the original photograph of Poe was taken by Edwin H. Manchester in Providence, Rhode Island (estimate: $10,000-$15,000)
• a Charles Dickens signed cabinet card portrait photograph autographed on April 20, 1868, the  last day of Dickens’s 1867-1868 American Reading Tour when he appeared at New York City’s Steinway Hall and read selections from A Christmas Carol and The Pickwick Papers (estimate: $15,000-$18,000)
• a George Washington signed partial ship’s passport dated February 4, 1796, counter-signed by Secretary of State Edmund Randolph, containing safe conduct papers in English, French, and Dutch safeguarding Henry Tredick’s brig Drake on its passage from Portsmouth, N.H. to the British West Indies (estimate: $18,000-$25,000)
• a Thomas Jefferson signed document, dated November 8, 1791, approving a Congressional act granting an extension to the state of South Carolina so that it could complete the U.S. Census of 1790 (estimate: $12,000-$15,000)
• a circa-1956 Marilyn Monroe autograph manuscript consisting of a statement of 130 words describing her impressions as an “observer student” permitted to audit Lee Strasberg’s acting classes at the Actors Studio (estimate: $8,000-$10,000)