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Letter


Malcolm Campbell memorabilia

Speed of the essence as Crawford lots emerge at Scottish sale

04 September 2023

A group of four lots being sold by the family of the former foreign editor of The Daily Mail includes items relating to the first direct flight across the Atlantic as well as Malcolm Campbell’s Blue Bird 1933 land speed record.

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Charlotte Brontë looks back to her days as Currer Bell

28 August 2023

A wistful and chatty letter from Charlotte Brontë to her editor William S Williams comes for sale in California on September 7.

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Oscar Wilde letter ponders inverted commas

14 August 2023

A fine Oscar Wilde letter sold for £16,000 at Dawsons (25% buyer’s premium) in Maidenhead on June 29.

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Rationality and religion combined

10 July 2023

Like many scientists and eminent thinkers of the time, Isaac Newton was also a devout Christian who thought deeply about religious matters, as a manuscript sold at auction in New York reveals.

Mozart letter

Mozart frets about his future marriage in letter coming up at Christie's auction

26 June 2023

A handwritten letter by the 26-year-old Mozart coming up for auction at Christie’s reveals a tricky love life.

Corday letter

Letter by Marat murderer Corday bought by Normandy institutions

14 June 2023

A letter of justification by the woman who assassinated the French Revolutionary journalist and politician Jean-Paul Marat has been bought by a group of Normandy institutions at auction.

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Engels the editor at Munich sales

12 June 2023

Hermann Historica’s (25% buyer’s premium inc VAT) huge series of sales in Munich included what it billed as ‘a key document from German history’.

Sophia Duleep Singh archive

Pick of the week: Fascination for the Indian princess then Suffragette

05 June 2023

As timing goes, the sale date for an album of handwritten letters, photographs and ephemera related to Sophia Duleep Singh (1876-1948) could not have been much better.

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Corday justifies assassination of Marat

05 June 2023

Charlotte Corday was the woman who assassinated the French Revolutionary journalist and politician Jean-Paul Marat.

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Lawrence of Arabia replies to lucky Archie

22 May 2023

The standout signature to an autograph album compiled by a boy scout in 1919 was that of Lawrence of Arabia.

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Robespierre to Danton correspondence sold at Osenat

08 May 2023

A rare souvenir, an example of correspondence between two key figures in the French Revolution, was one of the highlights of a sale held by Osenat (25% buyer’s premium) in Versailles on March 12.

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Last of Henry’s six wives and spared death or divorce

01 May 2023

Sotheby’s Coronation Sale ending on May 4 is a cross-category collection of manuscripts, jewellery, artwork and objects relating to the British monarchy

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Letters reveal heartbreak of Princess Di

01 May 2023

A collection of 32 letters and cards written by Diana, Princess of Wales to two friends came for sale at Lay’s (18% buyer’s premium).

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Lots of love from the future king

10 April 2023

Letter sent from a very young Charles to his grandma with doodles and kisses emerges at auction

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The last word on Samuel Johnson

03 April 2023

Shrewsbury sale offered rare opportunity to bid for a letters by the great writer and lexicographer

Jane Austen print

Jane Austen letter goes to her former house in deal brokered by Cheffins

23 March 2023

Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, Hampshire has acquired a rare early example of a handwritten letter by the novelist after its sale was negotiated by Cambridge auction house Cheffins.

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DNA discovery and damnation

06 March 2023

Extraordinary letter by Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist both commends and condemns a colleague

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Jones of the Stones and Nipper of the Yard

20 February 2023

A group of five autograph letters sent by Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones to a Miss Megan Jones in the years 1965-66 brought a bid of £4500.

Manuscript

Pick of the week: Family archive shines light on abolition movement

13 February 2023

A cache of material from descendants of the Starbuck family, a Quaker whaling family influential in both the abolitionist movement and the founding of Nantucket as a whaling centre, was the highlight of Catherine Southon’s sale on February 8.

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Tales of Timbuktu-born prince and a 116-year-old historian

13 February 2023

This single-page letter offered on January 19 by Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) tells the remarkable story of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori (1762-1829).