Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, one of the Midwest’s largest autograph dealers, strives to present a wide array of historical autographs in every field of human endeavor. While all of the traditional categories are well represented – presidents and poets, artists and aviators, clerics and composers, statesmen and scientists – so too are some of the “lighter” categories such as sports and entertainment. Founders William and Yolanda Butts believe any endeavor at which humans compete to excel deserves collecting and warrants careful attention, even areas some might consider less historical than others.  

William and Yolanda Butts founded Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts in 1991. Earlier, Bill had managed the office of Ralph Geoffrey Newman, Inc. in Chicago (founder of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop) and had been a book editor at Bonus Books and Pluribus Press. Along the way he also taught undergraduate English at Loyola University and English at a high school in Vienna, Austria, where he worked as a translator at Simon Wiesenthal’s Nazi  Documentation Center. He and Yolanda both earned M.A.s in English Literature from Loyola University of Chicago.

William Butts firmly believes that an educated collector is a savvy collector and that dealers have a responsibility to assist in that endeavor. Towards that end he serves as book reviewer for Manuscripts (the quarterly journal of The Manuscript Society), writes a popular monthly question-and-answer column called “Sign Here” for The Antique Trader Weekly (largest publication of its kind in the antiques field) , and authors two monthly columns (“Autographica Curiosa” and “The Bookshelf”) for Autograph Collector magazine. He also contributes occasional feature articles to these and other publications. In 2000 he authored Field and Sickles, the lengthiest study of this notorious forgery scandal ever undertaken, as part of the IADA/CC’s annual “Signature Study” series. He has also addressed various collecting and historical groups on a variety of autograph and book collecting topics. Butts is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA).

Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts’ autograph inventory is broader in scope than their book inventory, which consists of many thousands of volumes in forty categories with a largely American bent. Particular strengths include first editions and signed copies.

Located in the rugged and scenic northwest corner of Illinois, about 150 miles northwest of Chicago, Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts is proud to remain an open shop in an increasingly internet-only world. After Chicago (population 3 million), Galena (population 3 thousand) is the most popular overnight destination in the state, drawing some 1.3 million visitors per year. Adopted hometown of Ulysses S. Grant and other noted Civil War generals, Galena is famed for its plentiful and pristine pre-Civil War architecture and the natural beauty of its surroundings – as well as the General’s home. Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts occupies a three-story building dating from 1848. 

Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts’ autograph inventory is broader in scope than their book inventory, which consists of many thousands of volumes in forty categories.