Susan
Fenimore Cooper's typically understated expression of this irony
renders it all the more poignant, and the unspoken message of "The
Lumley Autograph" is as relevant today as it was in 1851.
{Though "The Lumley Autograph" was published in 1851, it was
written as early as 1845, when Susan's father first unsuccessfully
offered it to Graham's Magazine, asking "at least $25" for it. [See
James Fenimore Cooper to Mrs. Cooper, Nov. 30, 1845, in James F.
Beard, ed., "The Letters and Journals of James Fenimore Cooper"
(Harvard University Press, 1960-68), Vol. V, pp. 102-102]. Three
years later he offered it to his London publisher, also without
success [James Fenimore Cooper to Richard Bentley, Nov. 15, 1848,
Vol. V, p. 390; and Richard Bentley to James Fenimore Cooper, July
24, 1849, Vol. VI, p. 53.] What Graham's Magazine finally paid, in
1851, is not known.}
THE LUMLEY AUTOGRAPH.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "RURAL HOURS," ETC.
[Not long since an American author received an application from a
German correspondent for "a few Autographs"--the number of names
applied for amounting to more than a hundred, and covering several
sheets of foolscap. A few years since an Englishman of literary note
sent his Album to a distinguished poet in Paris for his contribution,
when the volume was actually stolen from a room where every other
article was left untouched; showing that Autographs were more
valuable in the eyes of the thief than any other property.
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