Katherine Schofield
Department Director
The Beatles
Lot 306
John Lennon: A two page autographed letter from John to Astrid Kirchherr,
Royal Mail stamped October 1962,
5 May 2021, 11:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £50,250 inc. premium
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Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
John Lennon: A two page autographed letter from John to Astrid Kirchherr,
Royal Mail stamped October 1962,
written in blue ballpoint pen on blue note paper, the insightful letter titled This letter isn't a funny one sorry!, sent to reassure Astrid following Stuart Sutcliffe's sudden death, he writes I am sorry you are so sad and uncertain of yourself...You must know that Cyn[sic] and I and the other Beatles will always feel the same about you. You will always be Stuart's Astrid to us, he continues to discuss his then wife Cynthia and her pregnancy ...having this 'little' John inside her...and being a wife, hee!, and later about the Beatles current release ...it is quite good - but not good enough..., signed off Lots of love John XXX; with original envelope in red ink, showing faded Royal Mail date stamp Oct. 1962, pages 7in x 9in (18cm x 23cm)
written in blue ballpoint pen on blue note paper, the insightful letter titled This letter isn't a funny one sorry!, sent to reassure Astrid following Stuart Sutcliffe's sudden death, he writes I am sorry you are so sad and uncertain of yourself...You must know that Cyn[sic] and I and the other Beatles will always feel the same about you. You will always be Stuart's Astrid to us, he continues to discuss his then wife Cynthia and her pregnancy ...having this 'little' John inside her...and being a wife, hee!, and later about the Beatles current release ...it is quite good - but not good enough..., signed off Lots of love John XXX; with original envelope in red ink, showing faded Royal Mail date stamp Oct. 1962, pages 7in x 9in (18cm x 23cm)
Footnotes
Provenance:
From a Private German Collection
The Beatles were all extremely fond of Astrid as this letter confirms. Especially following the tragic and early death of Stuart Sutcliffe, her fiancé and one of the Beatles founding members. The letter written six months following this, in what appears to be a reply to one John may have received from her. He writes in a direct and kind tone, in support of a young and grieving friend. Lennon refers to himself as John Winston in the letter and references Cynthia as 'Cyn', his new wife, on numerous occasions. They both knew Astrid as he discusses how they are looking forward to seeing her soon. But he quickly states that he is not looking forward to being back in Hamburg.
The second page of the letter discusses Lennon's upset that 'Klaus', which we believe to be Voorman, was at that time not on speaking terms with Astrid. However this is not elaborated on in the letter. He simply hopes to reassure her that he will come around and that she is ok living her life as she wishes. On a more positive note he comments on her recent photography of the Liverpool band The Undertakers, for which Astrid had taken promotional images. He finishes the letter updating her on the current news and successes of the Beatles, showing some lack in confidence of their current record and predicting it not being as good as he would like, but that it is selling well. At this time they had just released "Love Me Do" which went to No.17 in the UK charts, in contrast to its re-release in the USA two years later when it went straight to No.1.