Letter

Letter from German mathematician to English scholar takes £14,000 in Edinburgh saleroom

A group of letters sent from a clipper ship captain in Shanghai during the Second Opium War (1856-60) to his sons in the Charlestown area of Boston resounded with bidders at Merrill’s Auctioneers (21% buyer’s premium) in Williston, Vermont on November 3.

Top-selling lot in Halls’ (24% buyer’s premium) books and manuscripts sale on November 15 was a collection of 14 letters written by the Anglo-Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) between 1818-31.

The October 18-19 sale at Everard Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Savannah, Georgia, featured manuscripts, photos and ephemera focused on European royalty.

A collection of correspondence penned by leading figures of the 20th century to an Oxford academic raised more than £20,000 for charity at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) on October 10.

A wistful and chatty letter from Charlotte Brontë to her editor William S Williams sold for $65,000 (£47,450) in California on September 7.

While its existence was known, the whereabouts was a mystery until a routine house valuation

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.

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

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

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.

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

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’.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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).