“I purchase autographs, manuscripts, signed portraits and all kinds of literary property in order to sell again. There is an art in buying and a greater art in selling; it requires knowledge and a certain instinct or ability to associate events and people so that the value of the materials increases while in my possession. “I deal exclusively in gilt-edged autographs of those men who have made history, literature and music. Our great statesmen are my specialty. “No museum or library in the world has at present more authentic original material relating to our War of Independence and the Civil War than you can see in these safes of mine. “Framed portraits with short letters by men of note are the side lines of book and art dealers. You cannot find them here. “I am the only exclusive dealer in autographs in the United States. I have been thirty years at the game and I have made a quarter of a million dollars. Oh! Yes! I have about twice that amount invested in autographs.” “How does one become a dealer in literary property? How does one buy and sell?” were my next questions. “I can tell you how I did it, but as for the others--I would refuse to guarantee results--unlike the detective correspondence schools. “I did not want to be a dealer in autographs as a young man, but about forty odd years ago I had dreams that some day my own autographs would be valuable, or that at least I should be able to sell some of them to publishers and editors. My father, Park Benjamin, had been a literary man and a poet of note. He successfully edited big daily papers in New York. I graduated from Union College, served my apprenticeship on country magazines and was at the age of nineteen, editor of the Schenectady _Daily Union_. “I made good and went to New York. I worked for eleven years as reporter for the Sun, several years directly under the great Dana. “Interviews with big men were my specialty and some day I shall write my reminiscences, which will, I think, make interesting reading. I inherited the poetical vein from my father. A book of my poems appears this month. In the book store of my brother, who sold once in a while an autograph of a celebrity, I met several collectors and studied their hobbies. I saw wide possibilities in the field if the business were handled scientifically, and I devoted myself to it exclusively. “In September, 1887, I started a monthly paper, _The Collector_, and I have published it ever since. It reaches not only my customers and people to whom I might be able to sell, but librarians and historians as well, and it is largely quoted in biographies as I reprint unique letters and documents which otherwise would not be accessible to the public. “So you see I am an editor and my paper is the oldest trade paper in the United States--if you can call it a trade to sell literary property. “An autograph collector graduates from the ranks of book collectors.