autographs

Oh boy, Tebow. Just in case you haven't gotten enough of him everywhere else...

The book he is holding says "THE WORLD". I found one interesting lead:--a bibliographic entry on amazon.com and bookfinder.com: A general history of the world: Briefly sketched, upon scriptural principles (Unknown Binding) by Christian Gottlob Barth (1799-1862), a German evangelist--see German Wikipedia. A relative? This could be a coincidence. Edit. Alternative theory--the period at the end of the name indicates an abbreviation, so this is Louis Bartholomew. I see a reference to an atlas from the early 20th century edited by a J.G. Bartholomew, but it appears to be John. Oh well, that looked promising.

He looks a bit posh to be J Louis Barth painter and decorator.

I think this might be the Louis Barth who was the subject of a New York Times article published on December 10, 1911: "LONDON, Nov. 29. -- The most remarkable autograph album in existence is the property of Louis Barth of Arad, Hungary. Herr Barth, who is a Government official, has made the completion of the album a lifework. He wants it to contain the signature of every celebrity of the world, and he has gone a long way toward accomplishing his object." I'd surmise that the book he's holding in the photo is his autograph album. (PDF of the whole Times article is available at the link).

If i had not read the above comments i would have thought him to be a Fictional character..Perry Mason

Interesting image of the proposed B9U fly-back booster along with the autographed names of astronauts Don Peterson, Gordon Fullerton, Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, Tom Stafford, Buzz Aldrin, Karol Bobko, and Hank Hartsfield. Most of the names correspond with astronauts identified in photographs in this photostream examining the mock-up Convair/General Dynamics B9U cockpit. Presumably, these autographs were made at that time. Here are Aldrin, Stafford, and Lovell in the B9U cockpit mock-up: Gordon Fullerton in the B9U mock-up: Aldrin, Lovell, and Swigert looking at potential B9U instrument panel configurations: Aldrin and Hartsfield in the B9U mock-up: