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An autograph book is a
book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...
for collecting the
autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...
s of others. Traditionally they were exchanged among friends, colleagues, and classmates to fill with
poem Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meaning ...
s, drawings, personal messages, small pieces of verse, and other mementos. Their modern derivations include
yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...
s, friendship books, and guest books. They were popular among
university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
students from the 15th century until the mid-19th century, after which their popularity began to wane as they were gradually replaced by yearbooks.


History


Origin

By the beginning of the early modern period, there was a trend among graduating university students of central Europe to have their personal bibles signed by classmates and instructors. Gradually these expanded from mere signatures to include poetry and sketches, and publication companies responded to this trend by appending blank pages to bibles. Eventually they began offering small, decorated books with only blank pages. Other traditions dating back to the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
played into the development of the autograph book.
Genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
tables and guides circulated within aristocratic families, with each person adding his or her own information. Similarly, tournament participators would record their names, coats-of-arms, and possibly
motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. M ...
es into tournament books. The first true autograph books appeared in German and
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
linguistic regions (possibly originating in
Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of ...
) by the mid-16th century. Known as an ''album amicorum'' ("book of friends") or ''stammbuch'' ("friendship book"), the oldest on record is that of Claude de Senarclens, an associate of
John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
, and dates back to 1545. By the end of the century, they were common throughout Germany among students and scholars. Academics tended to retain their autograph books for many years and gather the correspondence of fellow intellectuals with whom they associated; therefore the books began to function not only as sentimental artifacts but also as a crude form of scholarly credentials, a precursor to the modern "list of references".


Evolution

The popularity of autograph books was generally confined to
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
and Germanic cultures, and they appeared only sporadically in other countries. They began to fall out of favor in the academic community by the late 17th century, but rebounded a century later as they came into use among fraternity students and members of the burgeoning
middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...
. This new wave of autograph curators included women as well as men. German immigrants transported the tradition to American culture in the late 18th century, where their popularity peaked around the time of the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
. Thereafter the use of autograph books declined sharply in both cultures as they were replaced by school yearbooks, though they remained a lingering fad among young women for some time. Autograph books in their classic form eventually disappeared from the landscape of American culture, but their usage endures among German schoolgirls, who know them as ''poesiealben''.


Function

When they first emerged in the 1500s, autograph books were used for collecting signatures at graduation and kept as a sentimental memento of college life. Eventually it became popular to use them well after graduation, and scholars would carry the books on their travels (particularly between various universities) to record the well-wishes of colleagues and noteworthy acquaintances. The books therefore conveyed a form of academic credentials, dependent upon who had signed them and what had been written. Additionally, an autograph book may have been used as a crude
address book An address book or a name and address book is a book, or a database used for storing entries called contacts. Each contact entry usually consists of a few standard fields (for example: first name, last name, company name, address, telephone n ...
to maintain correspondence to past and distant friends. Recently, researchers have come to see the historical value of these books in assessing the biographical data of those who composed them and the cultural backdrop in which they wrote. The autograph books of Ludwig van Beethoven and Babette Koch are among the most famous.


Design and format


Books

Until the late 18th century, German autograph albums generally consisted of loose sheets of paper or sometimes
vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anim ...
bound in an elongated
octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...
format; later, they became available in the horizontal format. The binding material varied dramatically, from cardboard to gold-tooled leather. A different type of album contained unbound pages in cassettes or folders, which could be passed out and collected individually and later arranged in any order.


Autographs

A typical page contained a set of verses in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew at the top, and a formal greeting to the album's owner below, sometimes including a heraldic shield or emblematic picture of the signator. More artistic autographers sketched full-page drawings, and less conventional entries included
engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
s,
embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen ...
, paper silhouettes, locks of hair, or
pressed flowers is the art of using pressed flowers and other botanical materials to create an entire picture from these natural elements. Such pressed flower art consists of drying flower petals and leaves in a flower press to flatten them, exclude light an ...
. The high quality of some illustrations suggests that the books must have been kept by the autographer for some length of time to work on the composition.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Autograph Book Books by type Signature fr:Liber amicorum