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autograph#Celebrity's signature

{{Short description|Personal signature}}

{{Distinguish|Signature|Audograph}}

{{About||autograph as manuscript written by its author|Autograph (manuscript)|collecting of autographs|Autograph collecting|other uses}}

File:B-a-c-h Reger.jpg is beginning and end of all music", signed autograph document by Max Reger (dated 7 May 1912)]]An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word autograph comes from Ancient Greek ({{lang|grc|αὐτός}}, autós, "self" and {{lang|grc|γράφω}}, gráphō, "write"), and can mean more specifically:{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Autographs|first=Edward Maunde|last=Thompson|volume=3|pages=45–47}}Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, p. 147. {{ISBN|0-87779-206-2}}

  • a manuscript written by the author of its content. In this meaning the term autograph can often be used interchangeably with holograph.{{cite book |last1=Tomita |first1=Yo |date=2016 |chapter=Autographs, Copies and Original Manuscripts |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCklDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |editor1-last=Leaver |editor1-first=Robin A. |title=The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCklDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=52–54 |isbn=9781315452807 }}
  • a celebrity's handwritten signature. Autograph collecting is the activity of collecting such autographs.

History

{{expand section|date=December 2019}}

What might be considered the oldest "autograph" is a Sumerian clay table from about 3100 BC which includes the name of the scribe Gar.Ama. No ancient written autographs have been found, and the earliest one known for a major historical figure is that of El Cid from 1098.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-MIChVmZwQC&pg=PA101|title=The Quest for El Cid|first=Richard A.|last=Fletcher|date=1 January 1989|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195069556|via=Google Books}}

Autograph manuscript

{{main article|Autograph (manuscript)}}

"Autograph" can refer to a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist. This meaning overlaps that of "holograph".

Celebrity's signature

File:Franzl Lang.jpg, autograph (likely for a fan's collection) at bottom.]]

{{main article|Autograph collecting}}

Autograph collecting is the hobby of collecting autographs of famous persons. Some of the most popular categories of autograph subjects are presidents, military soldiers, athletes, movie stars, artists, social and religious leaders, scientists, astronauts, and authors.{{Cite web |title=Collection: Autograph Collection {{!}} USF Libraries - Tampa Special Collections ArchivesSpace |url=https://archives.lib.usf.edu/repositories/2/resources/53 |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=archives.lib.usf.edu}}

See also

  • {{Annotated link |Asemic writing}}
  • {{Annotated link |Profiles in History}}
  • Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence, stone blocks with depicted signatures
  • {{Annotated link |Autograph show}}
  • {{Annotated link |Law of agency#Allograph}}, specifically a signature made by an agent on behalf of a principal

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

Further reading

  • Collecting Autographs and Manuscripts by Charles Hamilton, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1961, 269 pages.
  • Autographs and Manuscripts: A Collector's Manual edited by Ed Berkeley, Charles Scribner's Sons Pub., 1978, 565 pages.
  • T.J. Brown's series on Autographs in The Book Collector.

External links

{{Commons category|Autographs}}

  • {{HathiTrust Catalog|008611000|The Autograph}} (early 20th-century periodical, full view)

{{Authority control}}

Category:Manuscripts

Category:Signature