Lot 44: Presidential and Political Autographs 1860s. Commercially produced autograph album originally compiled by Mary Roxana Birchard (1827-1

Presidential and Political Autographs 1860s.
Commercially produced autograph album originally compiled by Mary Roxana Birchard (1827-1876), Rutherford B. Hayes's cousin; thereafter continued by other family members, containing approximately forty signatures, mostly clipped, or short inscriptions, some full letters. Signers include William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), Oliver Wendell Holmes Senior (1809-1894), Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893), Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), an autograph letter from Daniel Webster (1782-1852), signatures of the Supreme Court of Vermont c. 1890-1899, Swami Saradananda (1865-1927), and others. Covers and binding of the album mostly intact, some pages detached, some letters mounted, some loose, 7 x 8 in.
Ms. Birchard seems to have employed a clever approach to her autograph solicitations, based on some of the responses she received. Her correspondents thank her for sending a "birch barque" with her original note. Those who mention the little boats seem truly charmed.