Museum Collections
Luce Center
Autograph Authors
Title
Autograph Authors
Object name
Card game
Date
1886
Medium
Cardboard, paper
Dimensions
box: 1 x 4 3/8 x 6 1/4 in. ( 2.5 x 11.1 x 15.9 cm )
Description
"Autograph Authors" card game with 32 playing cards in a paper covered cardboard box; box cover chromolithographed with a medallion portrait Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) surrounded by a laurel wreath; box cover inscription, "POPULAR/ EDITION/ AUTOGRAPH/ AUTHORS/ Copyrighted-1886-By McLoughlin Bros.".
Credit Line
The Liman Collection
Object Number
2000.528
Marks
lithographed: on the box cover: "POPULAR/ EDITION/ AUTOGRAPH/ AUTHORS/ Copyrighted-1886-By McLoughlin Bros."
Gallery Label
The game of Authors, produced in a multiplicity of versions, was one of the best-selling educational card games of the late 19th century. Players build "suits" of cards composed of authors and their major works. The stars of Autograph Authors are famous writers of the time, including Mark Twain, (a.k.a. Samuel Clemens, who appears on the cover), James Fennimore Cooper, James Russell Lowell, and William Cullen Bryant.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.





