Friday 21 August 2009

Bloomsbury letters to go on sale

Letters of the Bloomsbury Group. Photo: Gorringes Auctioneers

A collection of letters between members of the Bloomsbury Group and Helen Anrep are to be auctioned on 3rd September. Helen Anrep, Roger Fry's partner from the 1920s until Fry's death in 1934, became a close friend of the Bloomsbury Group members despite not being an artist or an intellectual herself. She was extemely interested in the arts and the letters contain a broad range of topics from gardening to family issues.

The letters are estimated to fetch between £50,000 - £80,000. I am off to buy a lottery ticket.

10 comments:

  1. Such fantastic pieces of history, I can imagine the bidding will be fast and furious!

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  2. Yes - I hope a public organisation gets them so that researchers can access them.

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  3. Oo, I want, I want! Do you think they'd take, er, a fiver?

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  4. I will go halves with you - bargain!

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  5. The British Library really should buy the Bloomsbury letters. But raising the money is likely to be a problem.

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  6. If you want to read some of them go to http://www.gorringes.co.uk the auctioneers. They are lot 2018 on 3 September. Under details you will find 14 pages of info.

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  7. Hi Peter - I agree, it would be great if The British Library bought the letters. It will be interesting to find out who gets them tomorrow!

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  8. I imagine they will go to an American institution... like so many other collections

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  9. They went for £50,000. I don't know yet who bought them.

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  10. They were sold to a book dealer who bid on behalf of an unnamed client http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8236677.stm
    Hopefully, they will be made available to the public. Fingers crossed.

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