By Michael Stillman

Stuart Lutz Historic Documents offers a wide and fascinating collection of autographs and signed documents. Included are both the famous and near famous, along with some interesting letters from ordinary people concerning historic events. Just reading the descriptions in this latest catalogue is an entertaining and informative way to spend some time. If you find something you would like to own, that's better still, because the vast majority of these items are affordably priced. The following are a few samples of the items to be found within the pages of this Lutz catalogue.

There are several Thomas Edison items offered (see the pictures on the catalogue's front cover). Item 39 is an application Edison made and signed for a Canadian patent in 1888. This patent was for an improvement in the process of "duplicating phonograms." Of course, phonographic recording was one of Edison's most notable inventions, one that was still in its infancy at the time. Shortly thereafter, Edison would develop cylinders which could play up to two minutes of music. This signed patent letter is priced at $7,500.

Item 40 is the signed photograph of Edison seen on the catalogue's cover. It is a large photo (15 1/2" x 18 1/2") and is inscribed to one J.G. Monahan. $1,500.

Item 41 is a ten-year lease dated August 1, 1843, for 32 acres of land in Milan County, Ohio, granted to Samuel Edison. Samuel Edison was Thomas' father, who bought land and built a home in Milan in 1841. The leased property was probably used for business. Thomas was born in the Milan home is 1847. $1,500.

Thomas Edison devised some of the most important advances on earth, but contemporaries Wilbur and Orville Wright did their inventing in the skies. It was in December of 1903 that they made their flight into history from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In early 1909, the Wright brothers and their sister Katharine got together to spend part of the winter in France. It was during this time that item 151, a photograph of Orville and Katharine in a field with some cows, was taken. They look more like rural farmers than pioneering aviators. The picture is signed by all three Wright brothers and sisters. $12,500.