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MODERN LITERATURE, ART AND HISTORY
Lot 141

CAMPBELL (DONALD MALCOLM)
Photograph depicting Bluebird K7 at speed, signed and inscribed; with Campbell's accompanying letter

1 December 2021, 12:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £956.25 inc. premium

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CAMPBELL (DONALD MALCOLM)

Photograph depicting Bluebird K7 at speed, signed and inscribed in ink ("To: G.M. Williams/ With best wishes/ from/ Donald Campbell"), stamp of Hallawell press photographers of Manchester on reverse, 207 x 253mm.; with typed letter signed ("Donald Campbell") to Mr Williams ("...I well remember meeting you during my stay in Ullswater, and have much pleasure in sending you another autographed picture of Bluebird at speed..."), one page, 4to (256 x 207mm.), Horley, 9 February 1960 (2)

Footnotes

'ANOTHER AUTOGRAPHED PICTURE OF BLUEBIRD AT SPEED': Donald Campbell set seven water speed records in Bluebird K7 between July 1955 and December 1964, the first of which was at Ullswater on 23 July 1955, with four further records set on Coniston Water between September 1956 and May 1959.

The recipient of the photograph, Gwynn Mathews Williams, owned the Waterhead Filling Station in Ambleside on Lake Windermere from 1953 until the early 1960's, catering both for the motorist and lake craft, as well as acting as an agency for the Albatross speedboat. A glowing article in a contemporary in-house magazine for Esso describes it as '...a most efficient Filling Station, and also a structure emphasising a high degree of taste in design and general appearance... a boon to the boating fraternity...'. Being a keen speedboat enthusiast, it was inevitable that Williams would meet Donald Campbell, who was a regular visitor to the area in the late 1950's whilst making his record-breaking attempts. The photograph and covering letter have remained in the family until now.

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