Autograph Ghosts

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 23, 8 December 1909, Page 44

Autograph Ghosts

A New and Amusing Form of Autograph—Collecting is the Acquisition of “ Ghosts ”

By

EDITH WALLACE

THE autograph-fiend has a far more amusing fad just now than, the mere collecting of ordinary signatures of extraordinary folk, and the newest thing in this hobby] necessitates the possession of a “ghostkook.” to hold the signatures whichi Jpourtary the “ghosts” of the eminent tones. .These little books are becoming very £>pular both in London and in New ork. They have an advantage over the ordinary autograph-album, because the collecting of signatures has been bo overdone that many of the “great ones” kave had rubber facsimiles made of their ▼ery best autograph—not the kind that toppears on their cheeks—and instead of hiking time to respond whenever a

Stamped and addressed envelope is enclosed, all they do is to pass the letter, request, and envelope over to their secretary—or perhaps it never gets beyond the secretary at all, —and the autograph is stamped on in such a manner that it serves the purpose well and saves Mr. Author, Mr. Actor, or Mr. Singer a lot of time and tro’ible.

But a request for a name in one’s ghost-book has a certain novelty about it, and there is, too, considerable curiosity to see just what sort of a ghost one’s name will make, so that nearly everyone will take the trouble to picture his ghost for you. Tn making the collection for a ghostbook, partially reproduced here, many well-known men and women were asked for ghosts. President and Mrs. Taft were immensely amused at the idea, and took the keenest interest in seeing how their ghosts would turn out. The big statesman adjusted his glasses, folded with the utmost precision the

paper on which he was to incrlbe M» ghost, looked around for a stub pen, which, unfortunately, he could not find on his desk and then he wrote his name and hastily folded back the paper. "Cannot say that for sneh a big man as I am in the flesh my ghost cuts s'.i.h a wide swath,” he laughingly remarked as he held the paper up for Mrs. Tift to view. “But anyhow, the smaller one’s ghost the better —perhaps,” he added. Mrs. Taft was more pleased with her ghost than she was with that of her husband. “You are more important just now, but my ghost is a far more artistic creature than yours and really more spirituelle,” she laughed. It will be noticed that a part of Mrs. Taft’s ghost bears a remarkable resemblance to a Masonic emblem. Miss Mary Garden practised several times on her ghost before she would allow the final one to appear in the writer’s ghost-book. “Ghosts, like everything else, improve by practise, and I look upon my final ghost as a worthy effort,” laughed Miss Garden. “In fact, I see the urn above from which my spook must have hopped out,” she said, and sure enough, if one

will look at the prima-donna’s ghocC it will be found to be quite true. Miss Geraldine Farrar was enchanted with her ghost, which she said looked like a veritable butterfly. “How splendid to be so picturesque a ghost!” Miss Farrar commented. Miss Emma C. Thursby has one of the most remarkable ghosts of all, and for beauty and symmetry it is quite as pleasing as a wrought-iron work design or a Japanese brass candlestriek. “I prefer to think of it as something that was designed by the shades of some Japanese artist, which idea I absorbed when I visited some of the great temples in Japan,” said Miss Thursby. Lady Warwick says she doesn’t believe in ghosts at all, but she was very

much impressed by the appearance of her titled name when her ghost became a reality. “1 think I shall design a bookplate out of it. That wouldn’t be a bad idea, would it?” the countess added as she viewed the strong, bold writing that formed her signature. Lady Cosmo Duff-Gordon was enchanted with her ghost, and ghost-collecting has become such a fad with her that she has purchased a dozen of the littld volumes for her friends. “I put my ghost in each one, and I suppose I must be a woman of a number of selves or

lelse there are a number of warring ghosts in my ancestry, for each one of any signatures produced a ghost so totally ■different from the others that one would scarcely believe that they name from the same name and handwriting. But I am rather pleased with the idea, for what is more prosaic than lack of variety? I have made my fortune by original and diverse designs in the making of frocks,” said the titled dressmaker, “so why shouldn’t my ghost signatures pourtray that characteristic?” When Mrs. Elinor Glyn, auther of “Three Weeks,” had made her ghost

she thought that it bore some resemblance to a tiger and eagerly pointed out its claws. “The tiger is essentially one of my transmigrations, or shall I say manifestations?” remarked Mrs. Glyn. “Hence my ghost—my tiger ghost. Paul would be pleased with that wouldn’t he?” she added with a smile. Emmy Destinn, the gifted Bohemian prima-donna from the Royal Opera House, Berlin, who has just finished a

brilliant first season in America, said, that she could see in her ghost the shades of the late Empress Dowager of China. That fancy may have occurred to her because when she made her ghost the news of the death of the Chinese empress had just been received. George Bernard Shaw hasn't time for ghosts or interviews or writer fold at all, he says, yet this most inconsistent of men generally gives his interview and sees the writer person, and here we have his ghost. Mr. Shaw generally makes it as uncomfortable as possible for the interviewer before allowing him to be admitted, but after that the genial blueeyed Irishman is irresistible, and one readily forgives him anything that has seemed rude. The writer sent a note asking for an interview with Mr. Shaw in his chambers just off the Embankment in London last .summer, and in response Mr. Shaw characteristically wrote. , My Dear Miss : I will have ten minutes’ rest to morrow some time between eleven and twelve thirty. If you catch me during the ten minutes I will see you. If you stay longer I will throw you out of the window. GEORGE B. S. The writer went at a quarter to twelve, and Mr. Sh'aw talked and * talked and talked until nearly one o’clock, and not a word was said about the window or the playwright’s strong right arm! For a man of his brusque threats Mr. Shaw has a very mild and diminutiveiJooking ghost. Hafflie Erminie Rives has a ghost that might be of Oriental origin, for it resembles an antique and elaborately carved vase of Chinese design more than anything else. “Perhaps it is meant for the urn that contains my shades,” the novelist laughingly remarked. Of course one may just care to have the ghosts of one’s friends and not particularly those of people celebrated in the art, literary, or political worlds, and .then it will be a simple matter to fill up one’s ghost-book, for the making of ghosts will be found to be quite a novelty at a tea or other social affair; ■and take along with one's hand-luggage on an ocean voyage a ghost-book will prove the source of endless amusement, while it will make a lasting souvenir of the trip. The ghost-book itself is a small affair that can be gotten in the pocket of an overcoat or can be carried easily in a muff or big hand-bag, so that one can always take it along without any trouble.

When you ask for a ghost signature you prepare the page for the writing by folding it and the person whose ghost you are after writes directly on the line of the fold. A stub pen which holds a large amount of ink is best for this purpose, as the size and mystery of the ghost depend largely upon the ink. After the name is written the page is folded together again without blotting, and 10, the ghost appears. Try it and see. It is not necessary to have a book.

One can have the signatures written on separate sheets of paper and collect them, but care must be taken to use soft paper that wilt absorb the ink ■readily. These separate sheets can then be pasted into a scrap-book, but the little ghost-book itself will l>e found the more convenient. At the top of a page in the ghost-book is a small dotted line for the date, and below appears another line for the writing of the name after the ghost is made, so that after all in a ghost-book one gets a genuine autograph as well as the spook signatures. While several ghost signatures of the same person will often show an apparent wide difference in conformation, owing to the shape of the pen. the flow of 'ho

ink, and the amount of pressure used, a more careful scrutiny will make it clear that the chief characteristics hold throughout. The ghost is true to its type. Who, then, will interpret and reveal the true meaning of our ghost autograph? Here is a new field for investigation and amusement. With the advent. o- f the ghost-book W0

have a new twist to an old, old fad. Travellers in central Europe as early as the fourteenth century used to carry their “Book of Friends,” an octavo volume in which names and sentiments were inscribed. On their return homo they could show an interesting record of the famous personages they had met. These are the first autograph albums of which we hear, but the passion for collecting manuscripts and autographs is as old as the histroy of cultured society, and is not without its romantic side. One of the Ptolemies once paid the starving Atlienians in wheat for the privilege of copying some treasured manuscripts of the immortal Greek dramatists. The wretch kept the originals and returned the copies. If it had been the ghost signatures of Euripides and Sophocles that the unscrupulous ruler was after, he would not have found it an easy matter to perpetrate so heartless a trick.