Autograph Hound Saturday, and our favorite maniacal collector Brian Leno has landed a John Hancock he’s been after for years: William Beckford.
Here’s Brian with some remarks:
Just won the bidding on a William Beckford signed letter, an autograph I never ever thought I’d get. Coming from England. I will have to pay a tariff fee when it gets here.
Can’t find my Ballantine Vathek, which is no surprise, so I’m going to read my Penguin Classics edition. Due to read it once again anyway.
The Penguin Classic cover is the great painting by Elihu Vedder The Questioner of the Sphinx. Not to brag but I have Vedder’s signature also, just not sure where it’s at. God, I can be a bragging bastard. . . .
Nice little letter. Didn’t think I’d ever get him, but every so often the time I spend looking for this stuff pays off.
I believe it’s written one year before Beckford died.
Here’s what it says:
I have much pleasure, my dear Sir, in acknowledging your kind congratulations upon my grandson’s marriage. Having made so excellent a choice, there lies before him the fairest prospect of happiness — I shall not fail conveying to the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton your sentiments upon this auspicious occasion, and am ever, my dear Sir, with true regard, Most sincerely yours, WBeckford
