The largest collection of autographs in history is being offered for sale for $275,000, representing an unprecedented collection of more than 60,000 signatures from historical figures and everyday people from around the world.
In addition to the vastness of the massive book, which weighs around 60 pounds, it’s unique in its origins, which sound like a fairytale.
The book was the life’s work of a man named Joseph F. Mikulec, a Croatian traveler who drew worldwide attention for his exploits over a century ago. Born in 1878, Mikulec left his small town before he turned 20 to “see the world.”
After traveling in Europe, he sailed to South America, eventually convincing a publishing group to pay him $10,000 if he managed to walk around the world in five years, according to Raab Collection, which is selling the album.
“Mine is not a college education. I could neither read nor write when I left Croatia … but travel is the greatest educator,” Mikulec once said.
Eventually, he would log around 200,000 miles on foot, acquiring autographs from everyone whose path he crossed along the way.
Among the tens of thousands of names found in the book are those of six U.S. presidents, two monarchs and a prime minister of Great Britain, leaders of Japan, Australia, India, China, Singapore and Canada, Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie. He is said to have outlasted 44 pairs of shoes during his globe-trotting efforts.
In total, he visited every continent other than Antarctica, including 33 countries, adding signatures of people ranging from shopkeepers to dignitaries along the way.
His two-decade long journey came to an end sometime around 1923, after which point he met with autograph dealer ASW Rosenbach, who called the book “the most complete collection of contemporary autographs” in existence.
Mikulec reportedly wanted $1 million to sell the collection, but would settle for $10,000, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. He eventually sold the book for $2,500 in 1925 to Samuel Robinson, an Irish immigrant who was a founding partner of the American Stores Company. The Raab Collection obtained the book directly from a Robinson descendant in 2021.
Nathan Raab, rare book and manuscript expert and founder of the Raab Collection, who has conducted deep research into the book’s history as well as that of its curator, told the Smithsonian Magazine he has never been able to determine the fate of Mikulec, who, despite appearing in countless contemporary accounts during his travels, was never heard from after 1929.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.