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Lot 649
A group of Natacha Rambova letters to Rudolph Valentino
30 November 2016, 12:00 EST
New YorkUS$10,000 - US$15,000
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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.
Provenance: the William Self estate.




















