Autograph

autograph

Any manuscript handwritten by its author; in common usage, a handwritten signature. Aside from its value as a collector's item, an early or corrected draft of a work may show its stages of composition or “correct” final version. The earliest autograph signature of a famous person is probably the Cid's, dated 1096. There exist autographs of most of the great Renaissance figures, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Ludovico Ariosto. Since the 18th century, autograph material of notable people in the arts, sciences, or public life has been more abundant.

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autograph

a. a book, document, etc., handwritten by its author; original manuscript; holograph

b. (as modifier): an autograph letter

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Autograph 

(1) A handwritten inscription or signature.

(2) A handwritten author’s manuscript. Autographs form an important source for establishing the canonical (recognized as authentic) text of a work and are valuable material for studying the creative process of writers, scholars, and historical figures. The collection and custody of autographs is one of the functions of archives, libraries, and museums. In the USSR, manuscripts by K. Marx, F. Engels, V. I. Lenin, and several leaders of the CPSU are kept at the Central Party Archive of the CPSU Central Committee’s Institute of Marxism-Leninism. There are large collections of writers’ autographs at the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR and the State Literature Museum in Moscow, at the M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library and the Institute of Russian Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Pushkin House) in Leningrad, and in many memorial museums.