Last week a collection of 200 letters from WA’s first surveyor-general, John Septimus Roe, brought in $300,000 at auction, making it one of the most expensive archives of early Australian history.

Sydney dealer Anne McCormick, director of Hodern House, outbid Kerry Stokes and paid three times the pre-auction estimate of $100,000 for the letters, which she described as a “priceless” collection.

The letters start in 1807 when a 10-year-od Roe wrote to his parents from Boarding school, and include missives written from the Parmelia, when Roe was en route to Australia in 1829.

McCormick said that the Roe collection was the most important archive of colonial material to hit the modern market, and among the most expensive to be sold at auction.

“Roe is important in WA without a doubt, but this archive deals with his life prior to coming to WA, his life in the Eastern States and in England,” she said. “It was a lot of money but it is priceless.”
   
Ms McCormick said she would spend time researching the contents of the letters and would consider publishing some of them, before offering the collection for sale again.
 

http://www.hordern.com/

 

Sotheby’s Western Manuscripts sale on Tuesday 7th July will include a fine series of Medieval Illuminated Miniatures from the collection of the Late Eric Korner, and three of the earliest illustrations depicting St. Joan of Arc.

The stunningly illustrated manuscript, which dates back to mid-15th century, is estimated to sell for £1 – 1.5m, bringing in a third of the combined total sale estimate of £3million.  

Manuscript Description
The remarkable manuscript, which surfaced for the first time in half a century, documents the life of one of the most important and powerful emperors in Europe in the late middle ages, Sigismund of Luxemburg (1368-1437), king of Hungary, Germany, Bohemia, Lombardy, and the Holy Roman Emperor.

Among the numerous records of battles, attempted poisonings and political intrigue, it includes the earliest depictions of Joan of Arc, who had contact with Sigismund in 1429, immediately before leading the French army against the English which resulted in her capture, trial and martyrdom in 1431.

Dr Timothy Bolton of Sotheby’s Western Manuscripts Department said of the history of Sigismund of Luxemburg: “The swashbuckling and often blood-thirsty account marks a significant development of ambitious pictorial decoration and vernacular literature and is a celebration of the emperor’s involvement in many major events in this era’s history. It includes the religious wars with the Hussites and the story of Joan of Arc, and is one of only two primary copies to exist with illustrations.”

To browse the sale catalogue, please visit:

http://browse.sothebys.com/?q=joan%20of%20arc

The diaries of Alison Uttley, celebrated author of Tales Of Little Grey Rabbit and Sam Pig, reveal a dark side to the revered children’s writer.

According to her private diaries, now archived at the John Rylands Library, the author experienced a tragic life, despised Enid Blyton and dabbled in the occult.  

Following her husband’s suicide in 1930, Uttley launched her writing career to support her only child John, and went on to pen over a hundred children stories, featuring characters Sam Pig, Brock the Badger, Tim Rabbit, Little Grey Rabbit, Squirrel and Hare.

Despite her reverence for poet Walter de la Mare, and other male literary figures, Uttley hated many of her female contemporaries. She was bitterly resentful of comparisons made between herself and Beatrix Potter, scornful and jealous of her near neighbour Enid Blyton, who Utterly described as a “vulgar, curled woman,” and she also despised her main illustrator, Margaret Tempest.

The book The Private Diaries of Alison Uttley, 1932 to 1971 is edited by Professor Denis Judd, author of Uttley’s biography. Speaking on the diaries, Judd said: "These diaries chart Alison Uttley’s rise as a best-selling author and are a fascinating read. They describe some surprising attitudes to the people she knew as well as highlighting the tragedy of her husband’s death, which blighted her life. She recorded her frustration with publishers, wrote beautiful descriptions of the countryside and described her early financial struggles.”

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/

The Auburn University has added to its collection a very rare artefact indeed, namely the letter of surrender from Union General Ulysses S Grant to confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The University was able to purchase the document after a generous donation from James L. Starr, a 1971 Auburn graduate. Mr Starr said that something as historically important as the document should be preserved for future generations.

The University plans to put the Grant letter in its digital library alongside many other Civil War manuscripts. This scheduled to take place in 2011, to coincide with the Civil War’s sesquicentennial.

For further information on this fascinating historical document, please read:

http://wireeagle.auburn.edu/news/992

On June 18, PBA Galleries is holding a Fine Literature sale, which includes a very revealing archive of correspondence between the science fiction author Philip K. Dick and his “Dark Haired Girl.”

The collection of letters, written from the legendary author to the young Linda Levy, with whom he had an intense and short-lived affair, includes a number of unseen letters that did not appear published in Dick’s book The Dark Haired Girl.

These include the undated three-page letter "Goodbye Vincent," which concludes the book, described by editor Paul Williams, as a “delicious, unpublished short story hiding among the correspondence."

The letters capture the unpredictable and often tempestuous nature of the relationship with moods ranging from puppy love to vitriolic anger.

In one letter composed on April 21, 1972, Dick writes: "...Here you are, Linda, a dazzlingly beautiful little spirit wearing a body of pure gold, absolute gold like something cast up by that fountain of multi-colored water we saw that first night on the trip from the airport: purple sparkling water all shimmering with light. We are all of us, the rest of us, gray compared with you, like gray rain-water...Linda, I am very much, very deeply in love with you. So this here is what I'd like to ask you: will you marry me?"

However, in November of that year, he writes the note, "Dear LRL: Look, baby, if you don't stop playing games with Tim's [Powers] head like you did with mine you're going to have to answer to me, and you know what that means. Watch it. He's a nice guy. He deserves better. Phil."

By 1975 they had reached a state of friendship, and in the letter that serves as the concluding short story to The Dark Haired Girl, the author writes: "`That's a Linda doll,' the guy said. 'Made by Levy. You've probably seen their building alongside the freeway up near L.A. They're second only to Matell, and eventually they'll surpass them. This doll has a lot more character on its face than Barby.'"

This fascinating archive is estimated to sell for $20,000/30,000. To view the catalogue for the sale, please visit:

http://www.pbagalleries.com/