Sotheby's - London

History in Manuscript: Letters and Documents from a Distinguished Collection
Sale #L22424

Ranging from a warrant signed by Queen Elizabeth I ordering an attack on Spain, to an anxious letter by Lenin’s wife following her husband’s arrest as a possible Tsarist spy at the outbreak of World War I, this unique collection of some 170 lots preserves exceptional moments over four centuries of British, European, and colonial history.

As well as the signed warrant, and also a letter by Queen Elizabeth in which she promises that her enemies will never take “one foote of grounde in Englande”, many other keys figures of the Elizabethan age are represented. Mary, Queen of Scots pleads for clemency for a cousin; the Earl of Leicester writes to the Queen herself of his concern for her welfare during his absence from court; a would-be assassin explains how he had planned to poison the Queen in a signed confession; and a letterbook preserves the correspondence of Elizabeth’s ambassador to France in 1566.

Another major focus of the collection is Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. There are letters and documents by many of the leading figures of the Revolution, including a signed speech of patriotic fervour by Robespierre, and Napoleon’s career is traced from the young artillery officer reporting on the defence of his native Corsica, to the Emperor haughtily insisting on his peace-loving nature in 1813, to documents relating to his imprisonment on St Helena. There is also an important series of letters by a British diplomat and witness to Napoleon’s invasion of Italy in 1796-7, and correspondence by Marshal Berthier tracing the gradual military collapse of the Emperor’s army in 1813-14.

Elsewhere in the collection, David Livingstone describes what he has found during his recent expedition in East Africa, whilst General Gordon writes to Sir Richard Burton with his opinion of other European explorers in Africa. The collection sheds light on aspects of European expansion beyond exploration, such as Afghanistan’s role as the “graveyard of empire” revealed in a series of documents relating to the First Anglo-Afghan War.  

The tumults of the first half of the Twentieth century are another major theme. The collection includes a memorandum by one of Chamberlain’s closest Cabinet colleagues on the reviled Munich agreement with Hitler; a typescript speech by Charles de Gaulle, outlining his vision for the Free French from his London exile; and a major series of letters by Montgomery of Alamein, Georges Clemenceau, and others. 

2pm

Sotheby's - London
34-35 New Bond Street

London, UK