# Autograph

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Personal signature

Not to be confused with [Signature](/source/Signature) or [Audograph](/source/Audograph).

For autograph as manuscript written by its author, see [Autograph (manuscript)](/source/Autograph_(manuscript)). For collecting of autographs, see [Autograph collecting](/source/Autograph_collecting). For other uses, see [Autograph (disambiguation)](/source/Autograph_(disambiguation)).

"[B-A-C-H](/source/B-A-C-H) is beginning and end of all music", signed autograph document by [Max Reger](/source/Max_Reger) (dated 7 May 1912)

An **autograph** is a person's own [handwriting](/source/Handwriting) or [signature](/source/Signature). The word *autograph* comes from [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) ([αὐτός](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B1%E1%BD%90%CF%84%CF%8C%CF%82), *autós*, "self" and [γράφω](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%86%CF%89), *gráphō*, "write"), and can mean more specifically:[1][2]

- a [manuscript](/source/Manuscript) written by the author of its content.[1][2] In this meaning the term *autograph* can often be used interchangeably with [holograph](/source/Holograph).[1][3]

- a celebrity's handwritten [signature](/source/Signature).[2] [Autograph collecting](/source/Autograph_collecting) is the activity of collecting such autographs.[1]

## History

Autograph of El Cid

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding missing information. (December 2019)

The [Schøyen Collection](/source/Sch%C3%B8yen_Collection) states that it holds the "world's oldest autograph signature", namely a clay tablet (Ms. 2429/4) from about 3100 BC in archaic [Sumerian](/source/Sumerian_language), which includes the name of the scribe Gar.Ama.[4]

Whether an autograph of a major figure of antiquity survives is disputed: Some scholars, especially the American [papyrologist](/source/Papyrology) Peter van Minnen, are of the opinion that [Papyrus Bingen 45](/source/Papyrus_Bingen_45) (33 BC) contains a Greek word written by [Cleopatra](/source/Cleopatra). The papyrus would thus contain the only surviving autograph of an important figure from antiquity.[5]

More than a millennium later, an autograph of [El Cid](/source/El_Cid) is known, dated 1098.[6]

## Autograph manuscript

Main article: [Autograph (manuscript)](/source/Autograph_(manuscript))

"Autograph" can refer to a [document](/source/Document) transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its [author](/source/Author), as opposed to a [typeset](/source/Typesetting) document or one written by an [amanuensis](/source/Amanuensis) or a [copyist](/source/Copyist). This meaning overlaps that of "[holograph](/source/Holograph)".[3]

## Celebrity's signature

Picture of German yodeler [Franzl Lang](/source/Franzl_Lang), autograph (likely for a fan's collection) at bottom.

Main article: [Autograph collecting](/source/Autograph_collecting)

[Autograph collecting](/source/Autograph_collecting) is the hobby of collecting autographs of famous persons.[1] Some of the most popular categories of autograph subjects are [presidents](/source/President_(government_title)), [military](/source/Military) [soldiers](/source/Soldier), [athletes](/source/Athlete), [movie stars](/source/Movie_star), [artists](/source/Artist), [social](/source/Social) and [religious leaders](/source/Religious_leader), [scientists](/source/Scientist), [astronauts](/source/Astronaut), and [authors](/source/Author).[7]

## See also

- [Asemic writing](/source/Asemic_writing) – Wordless open semantic form of writing

- [Profiles in History](/source/Profiles_in_History) – Auction house in Los Angeles, California

- [Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence](/source/Memorial_to_the_56_Signers_of_the_Declaration_of_Independence), stone blocks with depicted signatures

- [Autograph show](/source/Autograph_show) – Meeting of autograph collectors

- [Law of agency#Allograph](/source/Law_of_agency#Allograph) – Person representing another person in legal matters, and the laws enabling this, specifically a signature made by an agent on behalf of a principal

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-EB1911_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-EB1911_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-EB1911_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-EB1911_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-EB1911_1-4) Thompson, Edward Maunde (1911). ["Autographs"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Autographs). In [Chisholm, Hugh](/source/Hugh_Chisholm) (ed.). *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 45–47.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Webster's_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Webster's_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Webster's_2-2) [Gove, Philip B.](/source/Philip_Babcock_Gove) (ed.), 1981. *[Webster's Third New International Dictionary](/source/Webster's_Third_New_International_Dictionary)*, p. 147. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-87779-206-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-87779-206-2)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Tomita_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Tomita_3-1) Tomita, Yo (2016). ["Autographs, Copies and Original Manuscripts"](https://books.google.com/books?id=SCklDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52). In Leaver, Robin A. (ed.). [*The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach*](https://books.google.com/books?id=SCklDwAAQBAJ). Taylor & Francis. pp. 52–54. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781315452807](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781315452807).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["MS 2429/4"](https://www.schoyencollection.com/scribes-collection/scribal-training/lexical-list-oldest-autograph-ms-2494-4). *[Schøyen Collection](/source/Sch%C3%B8yen_Collection)*. Retrieved 2026-05-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Miles, Margaret Melanie (2011). "Cleopatra in Egypt, Europe, and New York: An Introduction". In Miles, Margaret Melanie (ed.). *Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited*. University of California Press. pp. 1–20. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-520-24367-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-520-24367-5). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [10.1525/j.ctt1pnvmm](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnvmm).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Fletcher, Richard A. (1 January 1989). [*The Quest for El Cid*](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-MIChVmZwQC&pg=PA101). Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780195069556](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780195069556) – via Google Books.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Collection: Autograph Collection | USF Libraries - Tampa Special Collections ArchivesSpace"](https://archives.lib.usf.edu/repositories/2/resources/53). *archives.lib.usf.edu*. Retrieved 2023-02-03.

## Further reading

- *Collecting Autographs and Manuscripts* by Charles Hamilton, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1961, 269 pages.

- *Autographs and Manuscripts: A Collector's Manual* edited by Ed Berkeley, Charles Scribner's Sons Pub., 1978, 565 pages.

- T.J. Brown's series on Autographs in [The Book Collector](/source/The_Book_Collector).

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Autographs](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Autographs).

- [The Autograph](https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008611000) at the [HathiTrust Digital Library](/source/HathiTrust_Digital_Library) (early 20th-century periodical, full view)

Authority control databases National United States Israel Other Yale LUX

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