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University Archives is pleased to announce its next online-only sale on September 9, 2026. The auction will include over 400 lots of outstanding historical material ranging from autographs, documents, and archives, to books, photos, artwork, and relics. Major collecting categories include U.S. Presidents, Science, Civil Rights, World Leaders, Early America, Entertainment, Literature, and Music.

We are proud to have been selected to bring The Douglas Wertman Collection to auction. Wertman, the longtime Secretary of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club, was a true Collector’s Collector: shrewd, inquisitive, and meticulous. His passion for history, combined with his professional background (including a 3-decades-long tenure at the United States Information Agency), influenced his collecting choices, which are particularly strong in U.S. Presidents, First Ladies, Politics, the Supreme Court, and the Civil War. The Douglas Wertman Collection will be offered in a series of auctions. Each lot was carefully identified, documented, and researched by Wertman, who often acquired contemporary autographs in person.

For more information about Douglas Wertman, click here.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 22 is a presentation photo signed by President Bill Clinton, ca. February 13, 1997, inscribed by him along the bottom margin as: “To the people of Israel – with gratitude for the ties that bind us. Bill Clinton.” PSA/DNA slabbed and graded GEM MT 10. The color photo shows Clinton conversing with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House Oval Office, where the pair had met to promote the Hebron Agreement signed the previous month by Netanyahu and his Palestinian counterpart, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. The accord – in which Israel and Palestine agreed to jointly control Hebron, a holy site and mixed settlement in the West Bank – was widely viewed as a step forward in the Middle East peace-making progress.

Lot 22, Bill Clinton SP

Lot 67 is a Thomas Jefferson autograph letter signed, dated May 4, 1786 from Paris, France, which the statesman wrote while serving as U.S. Minister to France. In this 2pp letter addressed to Colonel William Stephens Smith, John Adams’s son-in-law, Jefferson fondly remembers his old revolutionary comrade. Jefferson also provides the latest news on The Diamond Necklace Affair: a swindle perpetrated by Jeanne de la Motte, a female forger and thief impersonating Marie Antoinette, which later served as one of many catalysts of the French Revolution.

Lot 142 is a George Washington letter signed, dated May 22, 1779 from military headquarters at Middlebrook, New Jersey. The Commander-in-Chief writes Brigadier General James Clinton regarding preparations for the upcoming Sullivan Expedition, a frontier campaign against the British ally the Iroquois Nation, where the Continentals planned to employ “scorched earth tactics.” Washington addresses supply shortages and clarifies military policy. On the same day and in the same headquarters, Washington’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton also sent out letters in a feverish push to get ready for the important military campaign.

Science

Lot 395 is an Albert Einstein autograph letter in German signed, sent from Berlin, Germany on May 1, 1926 to his close friend and colleague Michele Besso. In the letter, Einstein contends that simple experiments are not sufficient in themselves; instead, they should reveal an underlying order, rational structure, and deeper truth – in short, one of “God’s secrets.” Einstein argues this in the context of rejecting the clumsy investigations of a Swiss chemist named Johann Gottfried Beck, whom Einstein derides as having used “apothecary’s methods.”

Lot 395, Albert Einstein ALS

Lot 398 is a J. Robert Oppenheimer typed letter signed, dated March 14, 1949, and addressed to businessman Joseph Schaffner, copying Albert Einstein and Admiral Lewis Strauss. Oppenheimer inquires whether Princeton University’s Institute For Advanced Study should contribute to the Einstein Award – rolled out that very day, on Einstein’s 70th birthday – to subsidize scientists, or whether they desire to donate to another worthy cause, such as to Israeli scholars. The four men – Oppenheimer, Einstein, Strauss, and Schaffner – were tied together professionally and by a love of science, but were separated by significant personal and political divides. Accompanied by a JSA LOA.

Civil Rights

Lot 248 is a Martin Luther King, Jr. signed program from the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, presented to a Northern visitor on March 25, 1968, just 10 days before King’s assassination on April 4th. PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic, and accompanied by a JSA LOA and detailed provenance information about the original autograph recipient, Ed Zysk of Oakham, Massachusetts. This is probably one of the last autographs King ever presented to a well-wisher before moving on to the infamous Lorraine Hotel.

World Leaders

Lot 355 is an archive of correspondence penned by British military commander Charles George Gordon, who died trying to defend the city of Khartoum, Sudan against Muslim Mahdists in 1884. This impressive group of 55 documents and more than 100pp contains at least 50 Gordon signatures. The archive contains examples from Gordon’s time at Khartoum, before he and approximately 7,000 defenders were slain.

Lot 355, Charles George Gordon Archive

Lot 348 is a Winston Churchill signed George Philip Edition of a monumental map, Dunkirk to Berlin / June, 1940 – July, 1945 / Journeys Undertaken By The Rt. Honble. Winston S. Churchill, O.M., C.H., F.R.S., M.P., / Prime Minister of Great Britain In Defence Of The British Commonwealth And Empire. The mixed geographical and pictorial map shows the 19 destinations to which Churchill traveled during World War II, including in the United States, Iceland, Iran, and Northern Africa, and was published to accompany a 1956 reprint of his war memoirs.

Lot 350 is a Princess Diana autograph letter signed, dated November 27, 1995, one week after Diana had discussed her failed marriage during a controversial royal interview on the British news television program “Panorama.” In this touching letter to a subject named Michael Barratt who had written Diana expressing his support, Diana writes that she hopes she can teach her 13- and 11-year-old sons, Princes William and Harry, to learn how to better communicate with their future partners. Less than one month later, Diana and Charles received a divorce mandate from Queen Elizabeth II.

Entertainment

Lot 289 is a Marilyn Monroe signed early 1946 “Photographic Model Release” signed by her as “Norma Jeane Dougherty,” using the last name of her first husband, James Dougherty, and before the creation of her iconic stage name. PSA/DNA slabbed and graded NM-MT 8, with a companion LOA. The contract between Monroe and photographer Richard C. Miller dates from April 30, 1946, when Monroe was just 19 years old. Photos from this Miller photo shoot show Monroe on the beach, in a swimming pool, and in a ski chalet, further cultivating her Girl-Next-Door image.

Literature

Lot 365 is Ernest Hemingway’s signed Florida driver’s license, quite probably the only one ever issued to him, and dating ca. 1939-1940 from Key West, Florida. PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The license lists 907 Whitehead Street as his primary address; today this is the site of the Ernest Hemingway House, a National Historic Landmark. Hemingway lived at 907 Whitehead with his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer during the 1930s, there writing To Have and To Have Not among other works. The driver’s license dates from a very short time period between the passage of Florida’s first driver’s license legislation in 1939, and Hemingway’s move to Cuba in mid-1939.

Music

Lot 277 is an original sketch of John Lennon signed by all four The Beatles bandmates: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The sketch accomplished in blue pen shows Lennon in profile, with a manuscript arrow and caption as “JOHN / BEATLE.” Accompanied by a JSA LOA.

These are just some of the extraordinary lots in our September sale.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives is thrilled to announce its next auction. Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books & Photographs will take place on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. That’s when over 425 items of incredible historical interest will pass the auction block, from Albert Einstein’s heavily-edited handwritten mathematical notes on the United Field Theory, to Ty Cobb’s game-worn baseball cleats from his Philadelphia Athletics days. Collectors, dealers, and institutions can find whatever they’re looking for, whether it be U.S. Presidents, Science, Space/Aviation, Literature, Art, Music, Entertainment, and Sports.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 65 is an Abraham Lincoln signed military appointment dated just one day after his beloved 11-year-old son Willie Lincoln had died of typhoid fever on February 20, 1862 at the White House. The document underscores how the wartime president continued to attend to pressing affairs even as he was deeply grieving. The February 21, 1862 appointment co-signed by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton promoted one Nicholas J. Sappington, a Union soldier from Maryland invalided out of the army, to become “Commissary of Subsistence” at Elmira Prison, since converted into a military draft rendezvous.

Lot 100 is from Jimmy Carter’s personal collection, being a photograph of Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, signed by all five, ca. November 4, 1991, upon the occasion of the dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. The Five Presidents signed only a limited number of these highly collectible photos, and ours comes from the Estate of Jimmy Carter, one of the signers. Accompanied by an additional COA from John Reznikoff of University Archives and Lucas Pascal of Historical Autographs Gallery.

Lot 100, Five Presidents SP

Lot 47 is a John F. Kennedy autograph manuscript, which the president-elect composed on an airplane traveling from Palm Beach, Florida to New York City, ca. January 4, 1961. JFK’s pencil-written notes appear on the front and back of a Western Union Press telegram sent to him by White House correspondent Merriman Smith. Ideas from this draft – acknowledging the legacy of former U.S. presidents, and outlining what he wanted his administration to symbolize – were integrated into Kennedy’s 9pp presidential inauguration speech draft of just a few weeks later.  Accompanied by provenance from JFK’s personal secretary Evelyn Lincoln as presented to JFK collector Robert L. White.

Sports

Lot 420 is a pair of Ty Cobb game-worn black leather baseball cleats, ca. 1927-1928, dating from the last years of the legendary outfielder’s career, when playing for the Philadelphia Athletics. The size 10 cleats – which show evidence of hard use and weathering – were gifted to a local fireman, and are accompanied by a letter of provenance from his grandson. Comes with a Mears COA issuing a final grade of Authentic.

Lot 297 is a Bruce Lee and Van Williams co-signed program from the 1967 International Karate Championships held in Long Beach, California in July 1967. Bruce Lee and his costar from the 1966-1967 “Green Hornet” television series, Van Williams, autographed the “Demonstrations” page and presented it to the original autograph recipient, the nephew of Ed Parker, founder of American Kenpo Karate. At the competition attended by both Lee and Williams, Lee had awed spectators with a blind-folded demonstration of Chi Sau just weeks after “Green Hornet” had been cancelled on ABC.

Science

Lot 400 is an Albert Einstein 1p manuscript in German, ca. 1940s, continuing his formulation of the United Field Theory. Translated in part: “I want to try to show that a truly natural choice for field equations exists…” PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. There are six additional Einstein lots in the July sale, including autograph manuscripts, autograph letters signed, and typed letters signed, containing Theory of Relativity, Unified Field Theory, and Quantum Mechanics content!

Lot 414 is a Nikola Tesla 1p typed letter signed, March 16, 1901, addressed to fellow electrical engineer Robert Ten Eyck Lozier, who had also worked for Thomas Edison. In this letter, Tesla writes excitedly about his hopes for soon establishing wireless telegraphic communication with Europe, just two weeks after securing a $150,000 investment from J. Pierpont Morgan for Tesla’s future wireless transmission station at Wardenclyffe, Long Island. By year’s end, Tesla had lost the wireless race to Italian competitor Guglielmo Marconi.

Lot 414, Nikola Tesla TLS

Literature

Lot 375 is a 2pp autograph manuscript by Henry David Thoreau, sourced from his personal writings and tipped into a limited manuscript edition of The Works of Henry David Thoreau, Vol. I, published in 1906. Thoreau’s handwritten draft of approximately 360 words dates from the ca. 1850s, when the writer was formulating one of his more well-known essays eventually posthumously published as “Life Without Principle.” In the influential essay, Thoreau advocates for living more mindfully even if that means working an unconventional job and earning less.

Art

Lot 292 is a colorful Walt Disney signed Sante Fe & Disneyland Railroad and monorail pass issued to NYC transit authority director Sidney H. Bingham in ca. 1959, granting him free access to the railway for five years as an “honorary Vice-President.” The Sante Fe & Disneyland Railroad was inaugurated at Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 1955, while the high-tech, German-designed monorail opened in 1959 in conjunction with the rededication of Tomorrowland. PSA/DNA slabbed and graded Mint 9.

Lot 145 is a grouping of 15 Yousuf Karsh signed photographs, large and in full color, professionally mounted and over-matted in Karsh’s Ottawa, Canada studio in the 1990s, and retained in the artist’s personal collection. The majority of the artist-signed photographs were included in Karsh’s “American Legends” series, and feature notables Jimmy Stewart, Charlton Heston, Mickey Rooney, and others. Ex. Estate of Yousuf and Estrellita Karsh.

Entertainment

Lot 299 is a Marilyn Monroe signed presentation photo from the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes era, originally taken by 20th Century Fox head photographer Frank Powolny, one of Monroe’s favorite photographers. The glamorous yet intimate portrait, black and white on semi-glossy paper, is accompanied by LOAs from both PSA/DNA and Beckett.

Lot 299, Marilyn Monroe SP

Notorious

Lot 199 is a rare Al Capone autograph endorsement incorporating his mugshot! While incarcerated at Alcatraz Penitentiary in ca. 1935, Capone carefully wrote out the publication details of a book, The Story of America in Pictures, which had featured a profile of Capone on p. 367 under the title: “The Gangster Era: Capone.” The item comes with remarkable provenance from E.J. Lloyd, a Warden at the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island, and was in the collection of Patterson Smith, rare book dealer and crime historian.

These are just a few of the fascinating pieces offered at our July auction.

We hope you can join us!

Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books & Photographs will offer tremendous buying opportunities to collectors and institutions alike. Over 425 lots will cross the auction block, including a significant subsection (30+ lots) of Abraham Lincoln material, ranging from Lincoln manuscripts, signed letters and documents; Lincoln photography and works on paper; Lincoln hair and assassination relics; and autographed material from Mary Todd Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. Our June sale will also include Part IV of the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate, including signed artwork and books presented to and retained in the personal collection of celebrity photographer Yousuf Karsh. Don’t forget to check out U.S. Presidents, Early America, Science, Space/Aviation, Literature, and Art.

Sale highlights include:

U.S. Presidents

Lot 59 is an Abraham Lincoln autograph letter signed, written in Springfield, Illinois on February 16, 1842, and addressed to fellow attorney Garland B. Shelledy. The letter is one of the earliest Lincoln letters ever offered at auction; only two listings of comparably early date have been sold, both for amounts north of $50,000. In the letter, Lincoln advises Shelledy how to present bankruptcy cases in federal court following President John Tyler’s approval of legislation on February 1, 1842. The new law permitted debtors to apply for debt forgiveness following two back-to-back economic panics, and was only in effect for one year.

Lot 84 is a John Wilkes Booth autograph letter signed dated April 4, 1864, during a period when an increasingly radicalized Booth began to crystallize plans to kidnap Lincoln. Booth wrote this 2pp letter to an unmarried female admirer, possibly a romantic interest, from the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans, where he had been performing Shakespearean tragedies and contemporary melodramas. Our June auction also includes a Booth annotated scenery list for Richard III dating from ca. 1862, as well as a Laura Keene playbill dating about 10 years before Our American Cousin.

Lot 49 is a John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson signed photograph showing the President and Vice President striding down the White House South Lawn driveway on August 31, 1963, signed by both and presented to Cecil B. Stoughton, the official White House photographer. Dual JFK and LBJ signed photos are extremely scarce, and this one dates just three months before the assassination.

Lot 49, JFK and LBJ SP

Science

Lot 402 is a Francis Crick signed limited edition first offprint of Nature, Vol. 171, from April 25, 1953, signed by Crick and other molecular biologists involved in discovering and mapping DNA. The offprint, which includes three scientific papers including Crick’s co-written “A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid,” was the first public announcement of a DNA model, and includes a diagram of the famous double helix.

Lot 406 is a vintage Underwood & Underwood photograph of Albert Einstein, signed by the physicist in ca. April 1921 and presented to J. Miman, an employee of prominent Japanese manufacturer Okura & Co. Within the decades leading up to World War II, Okura would provide munitions to Imperial Japan. Ironically, Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity would lead to atomic bomb development, which in turn led to the end of the war and the dismantling of the Japanese military infrastructure which autograph seeker J. Miman was a part of.

There are six meteorites in our June sale, representing both lunar and iron types ranging in size from about 80 grams to 800 grams. Present are outstanding examples of Borzya Pallasite, Muonionalusta, Aletai, Agoudal, Gadamis, and Lot 189, a highly collectible Laâyoune 002 lunar meteorite weighing in at approximately 176g. The majority of the specimens come with Space Collective COAs.

Lot 184, Borzya Pallasite meteorite

Literature

Lot 357 is a Jack Kerouac autograph letter signed with outstanding travel and literary content written in Marin County, California on August 16, 1947. In this letter to lifelong friend Edward White, Jr., Jack Kerouac talks about past wanderings through Wyoming and California, and about possible future expeditions aboard a “’round-the-world passenger ship.” Kerouac mentions several real-life inspirations for memorable characters in On the Road, Visions of Cody, and Book of Cody, and reports that he has just completed a 40,000-word screenplay, probably the never-published “Christmas in New York.”

Lot 368 is an Ayn Rand autograph manuscript, being an original leaf, page 409, from her manuscript for Atlas Shrugged. The heavily edited manuscript page features 80 words in Rand’s hand. The page describes Dagny Taggart watching John Galt’s plane take off from Galt’s Gutch in Part III, Chapter II, “The Utopia of Greed.” The manuscript page was saved by Rand’s assistant Barbara Brandon.

Lot 375 is a J.R.R. Tolkien autograph letter signed, dated November 17, 1957, and addressed to a California medical student and Lord of the Rings superfan. In it, Tolkien vehemently denies that there is any underlying symbolism in his beloved trilogy, especially of any political nature, but the writer does admit that Middle-earth races exhibit traits characteristic of their respective peoples: “sloth & stupidity among hobbits, pride and escapism among Elves, grudge and greed in Dwarf-hearts, and folly and wickedness among the ‘Kings of Men,’ and treachery and power-lust even among the ‘Wizards’…”

World Leaders

Lot 346 is a Vladimir Lenin signed document, in his role as Chairman of the Defense Council, written at the Kremlin, Moscow, Soviet Russia on June 20, 1919. Co-signed by Alexander Tsyurupa, People’s Commissar for Food Supplies, the document ordered local authorities in Crimea to redirect cheese and canned fruits to sick children in northern Russia. The directive may have been militarily strategic as well as philanthropic, as Crimea fell before the advancing White Army just three days later.

Civil Rights

Lot 229 is a Martin Luther King, Jr. typed letter signed dated April 27, 1964, addressed to a fellow minister, Reverend Clifton M. Weihe, who had sent King an “Easter Day” message advocating for Negro groups to support the rights of Native Americans. In his response, King heartily agreed with Weihe that Blacks and Native Americans were people of color facing the same struggle against racial discrimination. Throughout the Civil Rights movement, King remained supportive of indigenous people’s rights, lobbying for tribal sovereignty and land protection.

Sports

Lot 280 is a Bruce Lee 3pp autograph letter signed dated ca. August 1964. In it, Lee writes to Bill Evans of Black Belt Magazine about the symbolism of the yin and yang seal of Bruce Lee’s martial arts school, the Jun Gang Fu Institute. To illustrate his point, Lee pens a black and white yin and yang sketch on the first page, explaining that it represents two complementary halves of one whole. Lee continues that the symbol represents a martial artist’s need for an “opponent to complete the other half of a whole.”

Lot 280, Bruce Lee ALS

There is much more to discover in our June auction.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives is excited to announce its upcoming sale! Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Books, & Photographs features 470+ lots of outstanding historical items from today’s most popular collecting categories. We are proud to present Civil War memorabilia from the collection of Larry Berra, eldest son of baseball legend Yogi Berra, whose rare and important collection consists of signed CDVs, autograph letters signed, signature clips, orders and discharge papers signed by major Union and Confederate generals and naval commanders including (in alphabetical order): Burnside, Doubleday, Farragut, Garfield, Gibbon, Grant, Halleck, Hancock, Hooker, Longstreet, Lyon, Meade, Porter, Rosecrans, Ruggles, Schofield, Scott, Sheridan, Sherman, Thomas, Warren, and many others. As always, collectors will also be able to find superb historical memorabilia from U.S. Presidents, Early America, Civil Rights, Sports, Music, Science, and Literature, plus Space/Aviation!

U.S. Presidents

Lot 34 is a Thomas Jefferson autograph letter signed, PSA/DNA slabbed and graded GEM MT 10. In this letter written at Monticello on October 17, 1816, Jefferson thanks Henry A.S. Dearborn for sending him an English translation of a scientific work by French agronomist Charles Philibert de Lasteyrie. Originally published in 1811, A Treatise on the Culture, Preparation, History and Analysis of Pastel, or Woad examined the various applications of the Isatis tinctoria plant, traditionally used to produce blue dye.

Lot 45 is an Abraham Lincoln signed partial check, dated February 8, 1861 from Springfield, Illinois, just two days before he left for Washington, D.C. and the presidency. We suspect that the partial check was issued to Lincoln’s gunsmith, Francis E. Payer. A May 15, 1891 Robert Todd Lincoln autograph letter signed accompanying the lot authenticates this Lincoln relic.

Lot 45, Abraham Lincoln signed partial check

Lot 105 is a George Washington free frank signature, PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic. The cover dated January 5, 1780 was written in Morris Town, New Jersey and addressed to Colonel Stephan Moylan of Colchester, Connecticut, the leader of “Moylan’s Horse,” or the 4th Continental Light Dragoons. Later that year, Moylan’s cavalry was involved in major Revolutionary War engagements at Springfield and Bull’s Ferry.

Early America

Lot 216 is a first edition copy of Joseph Smith, Jr., The Book of Mormon: An Account Written By the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi… (Palmyra: Printed by E.B. Grandin, 1830). This early book was printed just two weeks before the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was formally established, and is the only edition where Smith is referred to as an “author” and not a “translator,” as in later editions. A comparable library-owned printing of this 1830 Palmyra edition sold for an industry-record-breaking price of $250,000 (including the buyer’s premium) at our February 18, 2026 sale.

Lot 427 is an autograph document signed and plat map entirely executed in Daniel Boone’s hand, in his role as District Surveyor of Lafayette County, in present-day Kentucky. Boone outlined the extent of landowner Gaddis Winston’s 5,000-acre property on June 25, 1784, the same year the John Filson’s The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke was published. Filson dedicated a large portion of his book promoting Kentucky settlement to Boone, thus becoming the first author to mythologize Boone as the quintessential American frontiersman.

Lot 427, Daniel Boone ADS & Plat Map

Civil Rights

Lot 212 is a Frederick Douglass letter signed, dated March 13, 1893, addressed to Frederick Perry Noble, Secretary of the African Congress. Noble was laying the groundwork for the African Congress which would convene in August 1893 as part of the 1893 Columbian Exposition. This week-long symposium exploring African history, language, geography, and sociology eventually attracted 100 black and white speakers and essay entrants from 20 countries, including Douglass himself.

Lot 214 is a Martin Luther King, Jr. typed letter signed addressed to a Midwestern minister named Thomas T. Chapin, leader of the First Presbyterian Church of Morrison, Illinois. The letter dated October 29, 1963 thanked Chapin’s congregation for their monetary contribution to the SCLC, leading King to state optimistically that “this sweltering summer of discontent can be transformed into an invigorating autumn of justice and freedom for all people…” The letter dates from 1963, which was a momentous year in Civil Rights history, marked by King’s incarceration, the Birmingham Woolworth’s sit-in, and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, among other landmark events.

Sports

Lot 468 is Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ron Perranoski’s personally owned and worn 1965 Dodgers World Series Championship ring. The Balfour 14K gold ring inlaid with a blue stone was consigned to us by Ron’s longtime girlfriend and Attorney-in-Fact. Perranoski was one of the Dodgers’ most talented pitchers in the bullpen, helping to secure the team’s win against the Minnesota Twins.

Lot 468, Ron Perranoski’s 1965 Dodgers World Championship Ring

Music

Lot 244 is a vintage black and white photograph of The Beatles taken by Dezo Hoffman, signed by all four bandmates during their first trip to the United States in February 1964. The signed photo was acquired by editor of Cashbox Magazine Marty Ostrow around the same time The Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show, effectively launching Beatlemania. This very desirable example of a “first visit” autograph is accompanied by an attestation provided by musicologist Frank Caiazzo. Collectors should also check out Lot 245, a PSA/DNA certified authentic John Lennon signature.

Lot 247 is a Bob Dylan handwritten set of song lyrics for “Wiggle Wiggle,” the opening tract of his 27th studio album, Under the Red Sky. Dylan has inscribed 220+ words of what appears to be an early version of the song lyrics. PSA/DNA certified authentic. Dylanites might also be interested in Lot 246, a PSA/DNA certified authentic Dylan signed postcard showing him performing.

Science

Lot 447 is an Albert Einstein autograph manuscript in German featuring over 12 mathematical equations. The manuscript truly demonstrates Einstein’s working process, both through numerous rewrites, cross-outs, and edits, but also through its step-by-step premises and conclusions. Einstein’s manuscript, which is PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic, is part of the physicist’s ongoing attempt in the 1940s to fully articulate his Unified Field Theory.

Literature

Lot 424 is a J.D. Salinger typed letter signed accompanied by its original enclosure, an unpublished typed draft of Salinger’s proposed dust jacket copy for his upcoming book, Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters, together comprising 360+ typed words with two hand-corrections. In this September 9, 1962 letter to Little, Brown, and Company editor-in-chief Ned Bradford, Salinger refers by name to all three of his most famous works – The Catcher In The Rye, Franny & Zooey, and Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters – and describes the Glass Family, some of his most memorable literary characters.

These are just a few lots in our exciting May sale.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives is excited to announce its upcoming sale. Our March auction will feature 45+ lots related to Space (Mercury through the Space Shuttle) and 25+ lots dedicated to Comics (Superman, Batman, Green Hornet, etc.)  It will also include Part II of the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate, encompassing several dealer’s lots of large-scale photographic prints of celebrity subjects which were exhibited around the world in 1988 and later retained in Yousuf Karsh’s personal collection. Buyers and collectors will also be able to find rare and superb historical memorabilia from other collecting categories as well, including U.S. Presidents, Science, Notables, Art, World Leaders, and more.

U.S. Presidents

Lot 40 is a Thomas Jefferson autograph letter signed mentioning not only the University of Virginia (of which Jefferson would prove an invaluable patron and donor), but also referring to Jefferson’s Enlightenment beliefs in human excellence. The former President thanked his correspondent, Major John Michael O’Connor, on May 16, 1824 from Monticello, for having given him a textbook on military theory entitled A Treatise on the Science of War and Fortifications. Jefferson promised that he would donate the book to the university library, for the edification of future students and citizens of the Republic. In addition to this autograph letter signed by Jefferson, there are also two documents signed by Jefferson in the March sale: one a signed transmission of an Act of Congress; and one a signed Revolutionary War-dated death warrant.

Lot 40, Thomas Jefferson ALS

Lot 142 is a George Washington signed Revolutionary War discharge paper and Badge of Merit certificate awarded to Anthony Parcell, a drummer in the 2nd New Jersey Regiment, after “Six Years of faithful Service.” Washington, in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, confirmed Parcell’s official discharge on June 5, 1783. The Badge of Merit was granted to soldiers who exhibited exceptional gallantry or fidelity. We also have a George Washington free frank, accompanied by Washington’s personal wax seal, in the March sale.

Science

Lot 425 is an Albert Einstein autograph letter signed in German, dated September 17, 1927, addressed to his frequent correspondent and collaborator, Dr. Chaim Herman Müntz. The letter with nine equations explores the relationship between the radius, mass, and volume of spherical objects, both large and small, and how they react to different forces. The discussion of whether electrons and planets behaved differently from each other related to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, now in a fully mature state of articulation.

Lot 429 is a Sigmund Freud signed photograph showing the psychoanalyst holding a cigar, in what is perhaps his most iconic portrait. The photographer, Max Halberstadt, was also Freud’s son-in-law. The portrait was taken in 1921, the year after Freud’s daughter (and Max’s wife) Sophie Freud Halberstadt died of the Spanish Flu. March will include several Freud inscribed calling cards and envelopes, as well as an Anna Freud typed letter signed.

Notables

Lot 247 is a Meyer Lansky owned Vacheron Constantin wristwatch, extensively photo-identified, and sourced directly from the family of the “Mob Accountant.” The timepiece, with its 18K gold watch face and black leather strap, was gifted by Lansky to his grandson, Gary Rapoport, on the latter’s 21st birthday on June 3, 1976. The wristwatch is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity as well as a 2018 estate family appraisal.

Art

Lot 177 is a dealer’s lot of 40 silver gelatin bleed mounted photographs originally taken by Yousuf Karsh for inclusion in a 1988 retrospective at London’s Barbican Gallery organized by the International Center for Photography. The lot includes large-scale black and white photographic prints of celebrities, including the Apollo 11 astronauts, Ernest Hemingway, Muhammad Ali, and other sitters, each measuring 19.75″ x 23.75.” Karsh reduced the photos in size and mounted them for the worldwide exhibit, and afterwards, they were retained in his personal collection. The lot includes an Estrellita Karsh Estate Certificate of Authenticity. The March sale includes other dealer’s lots of Karsh photographic prints, as well as original artwork, correspondence, and signed books/exhibit catalogs, from Part II of the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate.

Lot 177, Yousuf Karsh Photographs

Comics

Lot 163 is a vintage issue of DC Comics, Superman, No. 12 (September-October 1941), encapsulated and graded by CGC with a Universal Grade 6.5. This is one of 25+ lots in our March sale featuring Golden Age comic superheroes Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, and others, offered singularly and in dealer’s lots.

World Leaders

Lot 353 is a vintage photograph of Mohandas Gandhi, double-signed by him in both Hindi and English. The signed photo is PSA/DNA slabbed and graded NM-MT 8, and comes with provenance from Kanu Gandhi, the Mahatma’s second cousin once removed, who served as his staffer and official photographer from 1938-1948. Collectors will also find an 1889 autograph letter signed by Gandhi in our March sale – the earliest example that we’ve ever handled.

Entertainment

Lot 305 is a first edition copy of Pete Martin, Will Acting Spoil Marilyn Monroe? (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1956), boldly signed by Marilyn Monroe on the front free endpaper. Monroe’s signature measures 4.5” in length alone! The illustrated volume, which is arguably the closest thing to an autobiography published during Monroe’s lifetime, is based on interviews. This is the first of its kind signed by Monroe offered at auction in over 50 years! Our March sale also includes a Monroe signed photograph dating from the “Some Like It Hot” film premiere in New York City; a Monroe signed check; and several pages of “The Misfits” revision script pages personally owned by Monroe.

Lot 305, Marilyn Monroe SB

Early America

Lot 270 is a Huntington Printing of the Declaration of Independence, by engraver Eleazer Huntington of Hartford, Connecticut, ca. 1820-1824. The handsome broadside shows the exact text of the foundational document as well as the signers’ signatures in exact facsimile. It represents one of the earliest broadside reproductions of the Declaration of Independence.

Lot 391 is a James Bowie clipped signature, PSA/DNA encapsulated and graded MINT 9 – the highest ever graded example. Bowie’s autographs are excessively rare, even notwithstanding his premature death defending the Alamo in March 1836.

Space

Lot 204 is an Apollo 11 fireproof Beta cloth bearing the Apollo 11 mission emblem, signed by all three crewmembers, and pre-certified by space expert Steve Zarelli.

Sports

Lot 444 is a Babe Ruth signed autograph album page accompanied by a University Archives Certificate of Authenticity. It could grade very high, possibly even a 10!

These are just some of the outstanding items in our March sale.

We hope you can join us!

University Archives is excited to announce its upcoming sale! February will include outstanding items from highlighted collections, like the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate, and the Presidential Collection of a Midwestern Gentleman.

We will also feature two important collecting categories: Abraham Lincoln (40+ lots) and Space (50+ lots). As always, though, collectors will be able to find rare and superb historical memorabilia from other collecting categories as well, including Early America, Space/Aviation, Science, Music, Military, Literature, Art, and more.

Part I of the Yousuf & Estrellita Karsh Estate includes pristine photographic prints from Yousuf Karsh’s personal collection, as well as items related to Karsh’s photography subjects and fellow photographers. This collection – monumental in quality as well as scope – will be offered over the course of several sales, beginning with 25 lots in our February sale.

Part I of the Presidential Collection of a Midwestern Gentleman includes presidential autographs from John Quincy Adams through Ronald Reagan.

U.S. Presidents

40+ lots of the February sale are dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, the Lincoln assassination, and conspirators.

Lot 58 is an Abraham Lincoln autograph letter signed dated May 6, 1865, just a few months into Lincoln’s presidency, requesting a Pension Office clerkship for one Albert I. Brooks. The letter is addressed to Joseph H. Barrett, the Commissioner of Pensions whom Lincoln himself had nominated in early April and appointed in mid-April. The letter illustrates the contractual nature of politics, for Barrett had been an 1860 Republican National Convention delegate and would write both election and reelection campaign biographies for Lincoln.

Lot 58, Abraham Lincoln ALS

Lot 96 is a Mary Todd Lincoln letter signed dated on the 1-month anniversary of her husband’s death, May 15, 1861, recommending a White House groundskeeper for a Treasury Department position. Mary Todd Lincoln holographic material dating from the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination is practically unheard of; this letter was not featured in the authoritative 1972 Turner & Turner biography of Lincoln. Only one other Mary Todd Lincoln ALS dating from this 6-week period has been offered at auction in the last 25 years, and that one sold for over $24,000. We have three other Mary Todd Lincoln letters in our February auction.

Lot 131 is a George Washington signed letter written in Fishkill, New York on November 29, 1778 in the middle of a harsh winter. Washington sent the letter to Major John Bigelow, Superintendent of Clothing for Connecticut Continental troops, asking him to send any surplus clothing to him at Fishkill, and paying careful attention not to cut up any strouds (coarse woolen cloth) into blankets. Bigelow, who had previously served at Fort Ticonderoga under Benedict Arnold, had been contacted earlier by Washington’s aide-de-camp Colonel Alexander Hamilton for information about supplies.

Lot 41 is a Thomas Jefferson signed copy of a foundational congressional act, “An Act supplementary to the Act, intituled, ‘An Act to Incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of the United States,” approved on March 2, 1791 in Philadelphia. This Act, along with a related Act passed a week earlier, comprised the Bank Bill of 1791, which established the First Bank of the United States. Jefferson, then Secretary of State, strongly disapproved of the idea of a centralized bank – a cornerstone of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist agenda.

Lot 24 is a Millard Fillmore signed E. & H.T. Anthony after Mathew Brady carte de visite, signed and dated by him as: “Millard Fillmore, 1867.” Accompanied by a PSA/DNA COA. Millard Fillmore signed CDVs are exceptionally rare presidential collectibles.

Early America – Lot 246 is a first edition Joseph Smith, Jr. “The Book of Mormon: An Account Written By the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi…” (Palmyra: Printed by E.B. Grandin, 1830), with exciting ownership signatures on the free front endpaper, as well as an ex-libris blind-stamp from a Logan, Utah institution. This early book was printed just two weeks before the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was formally established, and is the only edition where Smith is referred to as an “author” and not a “translator,” as in later editions.

Space

Attention, Space collectors! 50+ lots of the February sale are dedicated to Space, documenting the X-15, M.O.L., Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, and Space Shuttle programs.

Lot 165 is an official U.S. Air Force photograph signed by eight astronaut participants of the M.O.L. “Manned Orbiting Laboratory” program. Pre-certified by Steve Zarelli.

Lot 177 is a Yousuf Karsh original photographic print of all three Apollo 11 crewmembers, signed by all of them, and dedicated to the photographer as “With the Best Wishes of Apollo 11.” Karsh too has signed the photograph. It was retained in Karsh’s personal collection until his death in 2002, passed on to his wife Estrellita Karsh, and passed on to a Co-Executor in 2025. With an estate label and Karsh Estate COA. Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from Zarelli Space Authentication.

Lot 177, Apollo 11 & Yousuf Karsh SP

Science

Lot 400 is an Albert Einstein autograph manuscript in German, being a page from a larger work formalizing the physicist’s concept of Unified Field Theory. The sheet includes no fewer than 13 mathematical equations, and discusses Reimann structure and tensors. PSA/DNA slabbed and certified authentic.

Lot 401 is a first edition limited edition copy of ed. Paul Arthur Schilpp, Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (Evanston: The Library of Living Philosophers, 1949), signed and dated by Albert Einstein on the limitation page, and also signed by Yousuf Karsh below the frontispiece. The book features Karsh’s iconic portrait of Einstein taken at Princeton the year before. Accompanied by a calling card signed by the editor as “P.A.S.” and providing an outstanding chain of custody.

Music

Lot 286 is a John Lennon signed and annotated 8pp typed transcription of an oral interview which he and Yoko Ono gave on August 31, 1971 in preparation for the Peter McCabe and Robert Schonfeld musical biography Apple to the Core (1972). Lennon has added 12 separate manuscript notes on 5 of the 8 pages. His frank assessment of the Beatles breakup, managerial mismanagement, and personality conflicts are nothing short of confessional. Here you’ll find Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono, Brian Epstein, and Allen Klein, along with great musical content.

Lot 286, John Lennon TDS

Military

Lot 322 is a hugely important Horatio Nelson autograph letter signed dated October 9, 1801, just a week after the preliminary signing of the Treaty of Amiens, which effectively ended the War of the Second Coalition. In this letter to his former naval commander Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, Nelson rejoiced at the “good news of the Ratification of the Peace…” Although the Treaty of Amiens would end the War of the Second Coalition as well as the French Revolutionary Wars, it would set the stage for the long and bloody Napoleonic Wars.

These are some of the exciting rarities which will cross the auction block on February 18, 2026.

We hope you can join us!