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Letter


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UK Auction Previews of Books, Maps and Works on Paper – including an autograph letter by Robert Burns

26 May 2020

A selection of upcoming lots of books, maps and prints from auctions taking place around the UK.

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Two very different Florence Nightingale letters for sale in UK and US auctions - plus dealer offers signed photograph

20 April 2020

One to a lord about an Ottoman sultan, the other asking for six eggs - two very different letters from Florence Nightingale have emerged at salerooms in the UK and US.

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Albert Einstein letters come to auction in Dallas

01 April 2020

Several letters written by Albert Einstein discussing his most significant scientific accomplishments will be among the major attractions in Heritage Auctions’ April 23 sale of historical manuscripts in Dallas.

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Burning question from Charles Dickens

02 March 2020

One of the many memorable scenes in Charles Dickens’ 'Bleak House' was the portrayal of the apparent spontaneous combustion of Mr Krook, leaving “the cinder of a small charred and broken log of wood sprinkled with white ashes”.

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Einstein surprise at Stuttgart auction

18 November 2019

One of the biggest surprises at Nagel’s (33% buyer’s premium) sale in Stuttgart on October 16-17 came right at the end of the auction.

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Schiele reveals his artistic manifesto

18 November 2019

“There is no such thing as modern art, there is only art and it is perpetual.” The author of these lines was, perhaps surprisingly, the highly modern Austrian painter Egon Schiele and are part of an artistic manifesto written on July 17, 1911.

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Christie’s offers Stephen Hawking letter at online auction

01 November 2019

A letter written by the late Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) to an old school friend is being offered at a Christie’s online sale.

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New Jane Austen auction record for signed letter in New York

31 October 2019

A rare handwritten letter by Jane Austen (1775-1817) detailing a visit to the dentist has set a new auction record for a signed autograph letter by her.

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Letter by Jane Austen goes on view at museum after being acquired from Maggs

20 August 2019

Jane Austen's House Museum in Hampshire successfully raised the £35,000 required to buy a fragment of a letter written by the great novelist in 1814. The rare manuscript was being sold on behalf of its private owner by London dealer Maggs.

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Museum appeals for final £10,000 to secure Jane Austen handwritten letter

19 July 2019

Jane Austen's House Museum in Hampshire has launched an appeal to raise the remaining funds needed to buy a fragment of a letter written by the great novelist in 1814.

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Leonard Cohen's love letters to muse Marianne sell for five times estimate at Christie’s auction

17 June 2019

Letters from Canadian poet, singer-songwriter and novelist Leonard Cohen to his muse Marianne Ihlen have sold for a total $700,800 ($876,000 including buyer’s premium).

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Burne-Jones bares his soul in heartfelt letters offered at Cheffins' auction

03 June 2019

Tender letters from artist Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones to the daughter of his patron reveal the “emotional support” he craved.

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Prince Charles painting, Churchill funeral memento and HP Sauce –Harold and Mary Wilson auction takes £226,000

14 May 2019

Harold Wilson (1916-95) was Britain’s prime minister twice and won four out of five general elections, more than any other post-war British leader of any party.

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Pick of the week: Du Maurier dazzles as buyers worldwide snap up all 354 lots of writer's archive

06 May 2019

A manuscript for Rebecca and a favourite typewriter were among the top lots in a collection of objects and ephemera once owned by author and playwright Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) sold at Rowley’s in Ely (22.5% buyer’s premium).

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Collection from the “extraordinary life” of Harold Wilson and his wife Mary comes to auction in Staffordshire

12 April 2019

Harold Wilson (1916-95) was Britain’s prime minister not once, but twice and was the man who offered Britain its first referendum on membership of the then European Community and the Common Market.

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Daphne Du Maurier archive for auction in Ely features unseen photos of young Queen Elizabeth II

19 March 2019

She wrote two of the 20th century’s great masterpieces of fiction. Now on the 30th anniversary of her death, letters and photos relating to ‘Rebecca’ and ‘Jamaica Inn’ author Daphne du Maurier will go under the hammer at an Ely auction house.

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Rare Native American pictures by George Catlin come to auction in London

19 March 2019

A collection of watercolours, drawings and letters by American painter George Catlin (1796-1872) will be offered at Forum Auctions next week.

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Unrecorded archive of well-connected Victorian gay rights activist Edward Carpenter makes eight times estimate at auction

15 March 2019

A previously undocumented archive of writings by Edward Carpenter, the well-connected socialist poet and gay rights pioneer, sold for a hammer price of £4200, more than eight times its upper estimate, at Bamfords in Derby this month.

Tony Benn archive heads to British Library after help from auction house Christie’s

06 March 2019

The archive of Labour’s longest-serving MP Tony Benn (1925-2014) has been accepted by the British Library.

Albert Einstein’s God Letter

Albert Einstein’s God Letter is coming to auction in New York with a $1m price tag

03 October 2018

Auction house Christie’s is to auction Albert Einstein’s God Letter – his correspondence to philosopher Erik Gutkind written a year before his death in 1954.