Martin Luther, Chopin, Lincoln, and JFK Autograph Items to Auction

A religious reflection by Martin Luther, Frédéric Chopin’s signed publishing contracts, and a Civil War order from Abraham Lincoln are among the highlights at RR Auction’s Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale which ends November 12.

The rare partial autograph letter signed by Martin Luther was written in 1530 to his follower Joseph Levin Metzsch, Lord of Mylau. In this theological fragment, Luther explores whether inherited debt is a form of divine punishment, concluding: “Even if someone comes into such guilt willfully or through carelessness, or inherits it with innocence, it is still decreed by God.” The fragment, recorded in the Weimar Edition of Luther’s works, includes his Latin-dated signature “Martin,” and an address panel to Metzsch.


Also going under the hammer are two signed publishing documents by Frédéric Chopin dated August 1843. In them Chopin sells the British and Irish publishing rights to five major works including his Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 (“Heroic”), Ballade No. 4, Scherzo No. 4, and Nocturnes, Op. 55. Each composition’s opening motif is notated by hand beside the titles.

Other highlights include:

• a joint document signed by President James Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe appointing peace commissioners William Shaler and Isaac Chauncey to negotiate with the Dey of Algiers following the Second Barbary War in 1816 in order to help reassert U.S. power abroad
• a Civil War–dated autograph endorsement by President Abraham Lincoln approving the release of two Confederate conscripts (“poor men with families”) upon their taking the Oath of Allegiance, written on March 1, 1865
• a James A. Garfield signed document authorizing the ratification of a treaty relating to Chinese immigration, dated May 9, 1881
• a special John F. Kennedy section featuring signed photographs, letters, and annotated speech drafts