Main Street Fine Books - Historical autographs, documents, letters, manuscripts, signatures

	“Pas de documents, pas d’histoire.” Without documents there is no history.
	Fustel de Coulanges

Main Street Fine Books maintains a large inventory consisting of many thousands of documents in every field of human endeavor. All autographs are guaranteed authentic for the life of the item. New collections and single items are constantly being acquired, so the following lists normally lag behind our actual inventory. Please note that the “Books” section also includes a large number of signed books. We welcome inquiries regarding any persons not listed here, and your want list may be sent to us by selecting the “Contact Us” option.

Americana	Government and Politics	Religion
Americana, Colonial	Illinois	Science and Medicine
Art and Architecture	Jurisprudence	Slavery
Authors	Labor and Reform	Sports
Business	Lincoln, Abraham	World Leaders
Civil War	Military	Odds and Ends
Exploration and Invention	Music and Dance
Film and Theatre A-E, F-L, M-Q, R-T, U-Z	Presidential

Our descriptions and grading conform to The Manuscript Society Criteria for Describing Manuscripts and Documents (copies of which may be obtained by sending $1.00 to Executive Director Edward C. Oetting, The Manuscript Society, 1960 E. Fairmont Dr., Tempe AZ 85282). We judge condition conservatively, and note all relevant flaws. The most commonly used abbreviations are as follows:

ALS	Autograph Letter Signed; entirely in the hand of the author
LS	Letter Signed; signed by the author, but with body of letter in another hand
TLS	Typed Letter Signed
AL	Autograph Letter; no signature present
ANS	Autograph Note Signed; same as an ALS, but shorter
ADS	Autograph Document Signed; normally a legal or public document, entirely in the author’s hand
DS	Document Signed; same as the above, but with the text in another hand
TDS	Typed Document Signed; same as the above, but with a typed text
NS	Note Signed; short message signed by the author, with text in another hand
AMS	Autograph Manuscript Signed; entirely in the author’s hand
MS	Manuscript Signed; same as the above, but with the text in another hand
TMS	Typed Manuscript Signed; same as the above, but with a typed text
AQS	Autograph Quotation Signed; often a poetry excerpt or other memorable statement, entirely in the author’s hand
AES	Autograph Endorsement Signed; endorsement in the author’s hand, usually on the verso or margin of another letter
AMuQS	Autograph Musical Quotation Signed; passage from a music score, in the hand of the composer
AMuQ	Autograph Musical Quotation; same as the above, but unsigned
MuQS	Musical Quotation Signed; same as the above, signed and with the musical notes or lyrics in another hand
PS	Photograph Signed
IPS	Inscribed Photograph Signed; same as the above, but including a dedication in the author’s hand
n.y.	No year
n.d.	No date (month and day)
n.p.	No place
pp	Pages