Truer Words Were Never Said

 

...and we humans do it soooo well.

The Letters

     Lately I've been working on a very interesting line of study:  

     Signatures. Autographs. Letters. And such.

     Famous (and infamous) celebrity signatures go for WAY more than you would think. Many times these are clipped from letters, or scribbled on cards. They're interesting. And salable.

     But the real value, if you can find them, is on letters and notes -- especially those that reference places, people and events in these people's lives. A peek into their writing feels a bit strange, yet exciting...like a conversation you're accidentally overhearing. 

     I research paper ephemera on Ebay -- in part to keep appraising skills current. But I also am intrigued by what's showing up on the market from people, past and present.

Like Charles Dickens. 

     I've rattled on about Charley before; you know that if you've been reading this blog for a while. His work was the main subject of my Master's paper at the University of Michigan, and I've continued to read his books -- and books about him -- since then. 

     Dickens signatures average $700-900 on Ebay lately, with letters (bland ones) triple or quadruple that. I really could not see paying good money for just an autograph... or even worse, an envelope in his writing, but no signature. 

     Then this came onto Ebay: a 1906 Dickens novel. With two letters from Dickens pasted inside!

Letter #1 is the gem: a note from Dickens introducing his "old friend" Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (who WAS an old friend), written to a then-famous artist. And it's on his office letterhead. Whoa. Notice the lavishly-underlined signature, and the blue ink -- both "tells" of Dickens during this period. (Yes, I studied to learn that)

Letter #2 is more your usual 'responding to a request' letter -- but it's written on Gad's Hill letterhead. Dickens' long-wished-for home, purchased in the last decade of his life. Scribbled quickly, also in blue ink. Typical of the stuff offered online -- nice, though.

    The Ebay seller was asking far more than I could afford. Then they sent a special offer -- still too much. Using the "Best Offer" principle, I made an offer for less than half of what they were asking. (ALWAYS offer less than they're asking, if they're open to the possibility of a Best Offer.)

    They accepted it!

    The letters are real. The ink and paper are consistent with the period. Longfellow WAS visiting Dickens in England at the time Letter #1 was dated. And Dickens WAS living at Gad's Hill during the period Letter #2 was written. Also, his writing and signature are consistent with other examples that have been authenticated. 

     I opened the package, trembling a little, and gently touched the pages. I could actually sell Letter #1 for much more than I spent for the entire lot. But Dickens ephemera has only been going up in value -- I will hang on these for a while, probably framing them. What an opportunity to study writing and signatures up-front and personal! 

    Soon after, I bumbled across a letter written by Augustus Egg, one of Dickens' buddies. It was at an already-low price, but I submitted a Best Offer, anyways. 

     The seller accepted that, too! 

         Egg had moved into The Elms not long before. I am a fan of this Victorian artist, including The Travelling Companions, one of his better-known paintings. He was very much in vogue in past years, though his work is selling a bit slower nowadays. (Good -- maybe I can get one cheaper!)

Dickens' and Egg's letters join a few notes I'd already collected, including Georgina Hogarth (Charley's sister-in-law) and Kate Perugini, his oldest daughter. I also have, I confess, an extensive collection of Dickens novels and commentaries -- all purchased at rock-bottom prices. I had to -- we didn't have enough $$ to spend more. Ironically, being retired has produced more income for us than we'd seen in decades. So it's given me more dollars for research and collecting than I ever used to have. But the Hollander instinct is still strong. I barter, dicker and trade a lot. 

You can buy books from Dickens' personal library, with his bookplate inside. This one's going for more than $500 on Ebay. Or, if you're curious, read the story behind his "lost portrait."  Found at a garage sale!

                                    ==============

    To make my study of signatures and autographs even more helpful, I've been reading the memoirs of Charles Hamilton, a well-known dealer in memorabilia. His books Great Forgers and Famous Fakes, and Scribblers and Scoundrels, are virtual classes in identifying famous signatures -- including up-close examples of fakes, as well as the real stuff. 

Case in point: Abraham Lincoln signatures are extremely popular -- and just as often faked. One way to tell these -- Lincoln rarely signed his full name; usually it was just 'A. Lincoln.' But here's the kicker: his 'A.' was higher or lower than the 'L' in 'Lincoln!' A quick look at Ebay offerings was startling -- you would not believe the straight-line signatures out there! 

    Another trick of the forgers: get an authentic deed, paper, pass, etc. of that time -- then just forge a quick note or signature. Study of those examples usually tanks when you research where that person was at that time period -- and what they were doing. (The ink, signature characteristics and style fail, too.)

     Hamilton had an extensive collection of fakes, which he paid for at lesser rates. (Sometimes, he says, the forgers' signatures have been more expensive than some of the people they copied.) He uses these for comparison, and keeping his eye sharp. This is one of the reasons I collect specific pieces of china (like an 1840s Gaudy Welsh cup and saucer), books and quilts. How can I understand what a c.1800 quilt is like, if I can't smell, feel and look at an example up-close? 

    Starting my own collection of signatures and letters, even if it's miniscule, feels wonderful.

Eccles Cake and Miss Read - Redux

 Someone is still trying to piggyback onto very old posts. To keep them at bay, I've been putting dozens of old posts back into 'draft' form. Some are worth repeating -- like this one!

If you're drinking coffee, you're apt to live longer. 

The National Institute of Health and AARP's recent study of 400,000 is the largest ever...and surprised the pants off researchers, who expected to show that coffee was the Ever-Growing Kiss of Death. Earlier studies had suggested that coffee raised LDL levels ('bad' cholesterol), as well as blood pressure short-term...and those combined do pose a risk of heart disease.
     "Even in the new study," according to the Associated Press article by Marilynn Marchione, "it seemed coffee drinkers were more likely to die at any given time. But they also tended to smoke, drink more alcohol, eat more red meat and exercise less than people who don't drink coffee. Once that was taken into account, a clear pattern emerged: Each cup of coffee per day [caffeine or no caffeine] nudged up the chances of living longer."
     They just don't know why. (See the report here.)

While trying to face the day, first cup of coffee in hand, I enjoy a dip now and then in Miss Read's books. Miss Read, in case you're unfamiliar with her, has a whole English countryside of several towns, and vivid characters, waiting to meet you. They're "cosies," snippets and tidbits of these people's activities all year round -- and a refreshing change from your own. Her Christmas stories are unparalleled, too. (The nearest I can get, American-wise, is Jan Karon's work.)
   Anyhow, Miss Read's people love to add baked goods to their tea and coffee, including something called 'eccles cakes.' Wikipedia defines them as  "a small, round cake filled with currants and made from flaky pastry with butter, which is sometimes topped with demerara sugar." They seem to be something like a date-filled or fruitcake cookie. (The Mama makes a sugar cookie filled with ground raisins that seem to be like these. Looks more like a pancake in the photos, but you eat them out of hand.) Some sources say they're similar to the Banbury cakes of the nursery rhyme...but that doesn't help us Yanks much.
   Here's what the Salford City Council, home of the Eccles cake, says about it:

In 1793 James Birch’s shop on the corner of Vicarage Road in Eccles began selling small, flat, raisin-filled cakes. They sold, quite literally, like hot cakes!
Earlier, in 1769, Mrs Elizabeth Raffald, the housekeeper and owner of a confectioner’s shop in Arley Hall, Cheshire, wrote an influential cookery book, "The Experienced English Housekeeper, which became a bestseller. The book contained a recipe for "sweet patties" with ingredients identifiably similar to the Eccles cakes of today. Could this have been the recipe seized upon by a cookery-mad servant girl who took a copy of the book with her when she went to live in ... Eccles?
Whatever the murky origins of the cakes, James Birch was certainly the first person credited with selling them on a commercial basis...
     Whether James Birch made a name for his cakes in the 1780s, in 1796, or indeed some time later, is now impossible to say. It is equally impossible to construct a link between James Birch and Elizabeth Raffald (who died four years before the opening of Birch’s shop).
More recently the question of origin of Eccles Cakes has been raised in Parliament. A question was tabled regarding the future of cakes made outside Eccles to the same ingredients. Could non Eccles-made cakes still be referred to (and sold) as Eccles cakes?

 How many cakes, cookies or cupcakes do we know that are worthy of being debated in Congress?? Back to the story:

Throughout history, families making Eccles and (the similar) Banbury cakes have all kept their recipes as closely guarded secrets. One of the most famous expressions in Eccles is "The secret dies with me!".
The authors of cookery books would therefore have had to invent their own recipes based on the taste of the cakes they purchased at different shops. 17th Century recipes for Banbury cakes do exist but show that they differ from 19th Century ones. A major difference was the use of yeast which was necessary before the introduction of raising agents.
Although no 18th Century and only a few 19th Century cookery books give recipes specifically for Eccles cakes, it may well be that early ones differ from those known today.
Mrs Raffald’s original recipe for "sweet patties" of 1769 was a mixture of the meat of a boiled calf’s foot (gelatine), plus apples, oranges, nutmeg, egg yolk, currants and French brandy enveloped in a good puff pastry which could be either fried or baked. The use of the word "meat" [or "mincemeat"] in the early recipes serves as a reminder that meat was originally an ingredient in mincemeat.
The fact that Eccles cakes were being exported by 1818 also suggests very good keeping qualities, so they may well have included spirits such as brandy and rum. No wonder the Puritans wanted to ban them.

Well, gee. I'd better go dig that calf's foot out of the freezer, and resurrect the French brandy -- or maybe I'll just use the modern recipe below. Surprise your family with this venerable goodie, or have one yourself, preferably while reading something by Miss Read. (I'd recommend Village School or Christmas Tales, for starters, or the first one I ever read -- Mrs. Pringle.)

ECCLES CAKES (courtesy of the Salford City Council)

• 1lb 2oz/ 500g puff pastry
• 1oz/ 25g butter, melted
• Pinch freshly ground nutmeg
• 2 oz/55g candied peel
• 4 oz/ 110g sugar
• 8 oz/ 225g currants

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 425°/220°C/Gas 7

• In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and butter and cook over a medium heat until melted.
• Off the heat, add currants, candied peel and nutmeg.
• On a lightly-floured surface, roll the pastry thinly and cut into rounds of about ¼ inch/0.5cm thickness and 4 inch/10cm diameter.
• Place a small spoonful of filling onto center of each pastry circle.
• Dampen the edges of the pastry with a little cold water and draw the edges together over the fruit and pinch to seal.
• Turn over the patty over, then press gently with a rolling pin to flatten the cakes. Snip a V in the top with scissors. Place on a greased baking tray.
• Brush with water and sprinkle with a little extra sugar.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned round the edges.
• Place on a wire rack and allow to cool.Try not to eat them all at once!

Miss Read, aka Dora Saint, died back on April 2012 -- 10 days short of her 99th birthday. She may not have had the notoriety of a Robert Ludlum or Clive Cussler...but her books were never out of print. Reading them, I felt as if I were talking to an old and trusted friend. Take a look at her obituary for more. Her bibliography is here.More on her life, and the area she lived in here.
   Rest in peace, Miss Read. We will miss you.

Ripple Effect

 One Of The Largest Roman Mosaic Floors Was Discovered During The Construction Of A Hotel In Antakya, Turkey. The Warping Effect Was Caused By The Earth Shifting Over Time And Earthquakes, Giving It The Impression Of A Giant Rippled Blanket

For more odd and intriguing images, look here. 

Monday Stuff On the Way to Other Stuff: Surviving

 It was a VERY long seven days last week. I started with two days in the Denver/Castle Rock area, appraising...then spending some time with friends before they left on a European trip. (Lucky stiffs) Then supper on the way home with another set of friends in the Springs. We just don't get to see these people very often -- talking with them is like a breath of cool air wending its way across the valley. We love them dearly.

    Add to that a pastor luncheon I catered on Saturday (which needed a lot of prep work earlier in the week), plus the usual round of Stuff -- and it's been zany. The Brick and I both took naps most days...just to get through. 

    So -- apologies for missing a Monday Stuff post. But it couldn't be helped. Plenty of work to do this week, as well, but at least we can (mostly) stay home.

A final shoutout of Happy Father's Day to the Brick -- who's been a wonderful dad to our kids -- and our dear Pa, who's been gone for nearly 15 years. I miss him more than words can say.

See you soon, Dad -- love you.

Meanwhile:

Moraine Park Campground at Rocky Mountain National Park will NOT be open this summer.    FYI -- this is really going to cut back on camping at the park.

A frugal grocery shopping strategy that works -- from Retireby40.

Six cars that are still a great purchase secondhand -- advice from an experienced mechanic.

An Assyrian military camp mentioned in the Bible -- traces have just been found.

Here are some other dads, showing off their skills -- and driving their wives crazy.

Nice to know that craziness -- and babies -- survive through the generations.

A fascinating discovery uncovered at Mount Vernon -- jars and jars of preserved fruit, including cherries! (No, they're probably not edible -- but perhaps now we could grow George Washington's specific cherry trees.)

The girl at Messy, Thrilling Life (one of my favorite bloggers, now usually quiet) may be buying Freeman House back! Did she or didn't she?? I've been trying to find out.

A rare white bison calf, photographed in Yellowstone. This is supposed to harbinger good news.

Will masks finally be banned in New York? They've been used so much by thieves and anti-semetic protestors to mask their identities...

An early Diego Rivera painting surfaces, done when the artist was 18.

UPS drivers and their animal greeters...a very funny, charming photo-essay. (Don't tell Ruby -- she HATES UPS drivers.)

Palestinian deaths are "necessary sacrifices." This is an Israeli general talking, right? No, it's the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar. I feel a little sick. Does he feel the same way, now that a Hamas official's family members have been killed in an attack?

Some very funny commercials:

Have a good week.

Too Bizzzzy, I Guess...

 

More weirdness, thanks to Bored Panda, here. 

Yeah, Me Too...

 

P.S. Monday Stuff is late...but it's coming. Look for it tomorrow (Thursday).