One of three letters in the hand of Sir Walter Scott sold for £4790 in total by Peebles Auction House.
All authenticated by the National Library of Scotland, they were offered at were offered on December 11 by Peebles Auction House (24% buyer’s premium) and sold for a total of £4790.
They were led at £1700 by an undated note, written and signed at Sir Walter's Abbotsford home, that is believed to date from around the time of his last illness.
In a four-page letter addressed to a Mrs Scott of the Kent town of “Ramsgate by London” (but no relation, it seems), Sir Walter reports that his health is poor but, with assistance, he has been able to walk a mile or two “…which always rids one of that degrading feeling of helplessness which attends confinement”.
Opened in in 2014 by Garry and Lynsey Rennie, the Peebles firm brought the return of auctions to the Scottish border town after a gap of over 25 years.
