Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 649

A group of Natacha Rambova letters to Rudolph Valentino

30 November 2016, 12:00 EST
New York

US$10,000 - US$15,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Popular Culture specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A group of Natacha Rambova letters to Rudolph Valentino

Comprising 3 autograph letters signed ("Natacha"), graphite on legal paper, n.d. (1925), 8 pp total (1 pp, 3 pp, 4 pp); 1 with transmittal envelope postmarked August 1925, Salt Lake City, UT; typed carbon letters, each headed "Special Report," 29 pp, June-August 1925; typed carbon key for the "Ritz Code," approximately 19 pp; 9 telegrams, August 1925-May 1926; 4 gelatin silver prints, approximately 8 x 10 in each, depicting Valentino and Rambova. This correspondence follows Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova's disintegrating marriage. Rumors of impending divorce forced Valentino to adopt a code for correspondence to avoid publicity, reflected in these telegrams; the code's key is included. Valentino hired detectives to shadow Rambova. Among their reports in this lot, one dated June 22, 1925, indicates that Rambova secretly visited a lover. In her intensely emotional letters, Rambova writes, in part: ". . . I will get the divorce that / you ask for – within the year . . . " In her dramatic final letter, Rambova writes: "As this is the last letter I shall ever / write you I am asking you to read it / through." She openly discusses her affair; her tone grows increasingly heartbroken and tearstains dot the letter's pages. She closes with: "You were my first real love / and you will be my last one . . . With my arms around you, my darling, I give you my last kiss."
Provenance: the William Self estate.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

An Omega Pocket Watch Engraved to Spencer Tracy from Joan Crawford Date: c. 1937

Gary Moore: A Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar, known as 'Stripe', 1959,

Marianne Faithfull: Two Passports and a Selection of Personal Ephemera, Qty

Bernie Krause (b. 1938) Day & Night in Gombe, 2025

Marianne Faithfull: A diary, a large collection of archival notes and lyrics, and other personal items, Qty

Marianne Faithfull: A Selection of Personal Books, with inscriptions, Various publishers and dates, Qty

Marianne Faithfull: A large collection of personal correspondence, Various dates, Qty

Marianne Faithfull: A Large Collection of Photographs, some professional and some personal,

Marianne Faithfull: A Large Annie Leibovitz campaign poster of Marianne Faithfull for GAP, 1990,

Anita Pallenberg (Italian, 1942-2017): Work on paper, titled "Babylon", 1994, 2

Marianne Faithfull: a Dyptich by Giuseppe Romeo, titled "Falsehood I" and "Falsehood II", Paris, 1995-96, 2

Carrie Fisher (1956-2016): Her personal trunk, Gifted to Marianne Faithfull,

Marianne Faithfull: Two paintings, one by Thierry Bisch, titled 'Butterflies', 2003, and undated, 3