Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Autograph Letter Signed.

HOLMES, Jr..

Item Number: 115358

Rare autograph letter signed by and entirely in the hand of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Dated November 18, 1917, the letter is on Holmes’ Supreme Court of the United States letterhead and addressed to Howard Jacobs. The letter reads, “Dear Sir, A visit to Harris & Ewing and inspection of their proofs left me unable to believe that any of those shown me correspond to the one I sighted this morning. Therefore if you are willing to adhere to your kind offer, I should be greatly obliged if you would get them to send me a proof of the one you identify. I want half a dozen, but I want to be sure I get the same. O.W. Holmes.” In very good condition.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932, and as Acting Chief Justice of the United States January–February 1930. Noted for his long service, his concise and pithy opinions and his deference to the decisions of elected legislatures, he is one of the most widely cited United States Supreme Court justices in history, particularly for his "clear and present danger" opinion for a unanimous Court in the 1919 case of Schenck v. United States, and is one of the most influential American common law judges, honored during his lifetime in Great Britain as well as the United States. Holmes retired from the Court at the age 90, making him the oldest Justice in the Supreme Court's history. He also served as an Associate Justice and as Chief Justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and was Weld Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School, of which he was an alumnus.