Bram Stoker autograph – will bidders bite?

A letter written jointly by the great Victorian actor Sir Henry Irving and the creator of Count Dracula, Bram Stoker, is one of many entries in an autograph album up for auction at John Nicholson’s in Surrey on February 18.

The signatures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the equally celebrated Sherlock Holmes; a letter from Lord Baden Powell, father of the Scout movement and Hero of Mafeking, also feature, as does a one-page letter about the Battle of Mafeking from Lord Roberts, joint commander of British forces at the time, and the signature of actress Ellen Terry, Irving’s partner at The Lyceum.

The joint letter from Irving and Stoker reflects their business relationship – Stoker became Irving’s personal assistant and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in the West End, which Irving owned.

The pair met and became friends after Stoker, then a theatre critic, gave Irving a favourable review in 1876 for his performance as Hamlet at the Theatre Royal, Dublin.

The letter is dated February 19, 1899, the date inscribed by both writers. Although Stoker’s handwriting is spidery, Irving’s is worse. It includes a simple message stating: Dear Madam, With the greatest pleasure & all good wishes… before becoming all but indecipherable in Irving’s hand above his signature.

The letter was written less than two years after Stoker published Dracula and, despite its success, he remained better known as Irving’s manager during his lifetime. Many have claimed that Irving was the chief inspiration for the character of Dracula.

The autograph album is estimated £300-500.

The auction also includes early Victorian Valentine cards, and signed rough sketch drawings by the celebrated cartoonist William Heath Robinson. They were both commissioned artwork for the Naval Ordnance Inspection Department.