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The Property of a Descendant of Lady Lewis
Lot 54•
ALBUM - WOMEN WRITERS & ARTISTS Album of c.100 autograph letters from nineteenth-century women writers and notable artists, [nineteenth-century]
14 November 2023, 14:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £19,200 inc. premium
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ALBUM - WOMEN WRITERS & ARTISTS
Album of c.100 autograph letters from nineteenth-century women writers and notable artists, from the collection of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (née Villiers) (1803-1865), the majority to Lady Lewis, some loose, including:
Eleanor Butler & Sarah Ponsonby (The 'Ladies of Llangollen'); poet and dramatist Joanna Baillie (putting aside Mr Sotheby's concerns for her pamphlet, "I am in much greater danger of being neglected than attacked"); Mary Berry (3, to Lady Lewis, on the death of her friend Lady Charlotte Lindsay and making arrangements); Agnes Berry (2, replying to an invitation on behalf of her sister and referring to malicious news concerning Mr Lewis in The Times); poet Elizabeth Carter; Maria Edgeworth; Amelia Opie; Jane Porter (2 with some verses addressed "To Sir Robert Ker Porter on seeing his Picture of Christ at the Last Supper"); Madame de Stael (cut signature); Ottilie von Goethe (German socialite and daughter-in-law of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in English); Lady Caroline Lamb (to Mary Berry, on her mother's escape from a crash, flattering her and giving her a receipt for a headache, on hearing rumours about herself "...when utterly fake it grieves..."); Mary Somerville (2); Fanny Kemble (2); Harriet Martineau, Anne Isabella Noel Byron, wife of Lord Byron (6, making arrangements, talking of a calamity in her family that has cause her to neglect everything else, troubles with Lady Lovelace ("...she just vegetates..."), another fragment talking of Lord Byron ("...He is the best man, I think I may say, that I have ever known, and the more his powers are called forth, the more his character will be generally be appreciated... He is very glad to be released from the proposed voyage to St Petersburg, and will I hope enjoy a little rest on the home station at Portsmouth..."); Caroline Norton ("...I send my 'doggerel' – it amused me to write it..."); Mary Seward (7, including some verses); and others such as George du Maurier; Richard Owen (returning a book); Charles Eastlake; Edwin Landseer (4, regarding the 'Spanish Lady'); David Wilkie; John Hayter (2, with sketches); and much else, some annotations, index titled 'British Artists' on blue paper and sheet of blotting paper at front, c.148 leaves (some blank, some excised), half maroon roan gilt, decorative spine gilt stamped 'Autographs' and 'Authoresses/ Artists/ &c.', worn, 4to (235 x 280mm.), [nineteenth-century]
Eleanor Butler & Sarah Ponsonby (The 'Ladies of Llangollen'); poet and dramatist Joanna Baillie (putting aside Mr Sotheby's concerns for her pamphlet, "I am in much greater danger of being neglected than attacked"); Mary Berry (3, to Lady Lewis, on the death of her friend Lady Charlotte Lindsay and making arrangements); Agnes Berry (2, replying to an invitation on behalf of her sister and referring to malicious news concerning Mr Lewis in The Times); poet Elizabeth Carter; Maria Edgeworth; Amelia Opie; Jane Porter (2 with some verses addressed "To Sir Robert Ker Porter on seeing his Picture of Christ at the Last Supper"); Madame de Stael (cut signature); Ottilie von Goethe (German socialite and daughter-in-law of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in English); Lady Caroline Lamb (to Mary Berry, on her mother's escape from a crash, flattering her and giving her a receipt for a headache, on hearing rumours about herself "...when utterly fake it grieves..."); Mary Somerville (2); Fanny Kemble (2); Harriet Martineau, Anne Isabella Noel Byron, wife of Lord Byron (6, making arrangements, talking of a calamity in her family that has cause her to neglect everything else, troubles with Lady Lovelace ("...she just vegetates..."), another fragment talking of Lord Byron ("...He is the best man, I think I may say, that I have ever known, and the more his powers are called forth, the more his character will be generally be appreciated... He is very glad to be released from the proposed voyage to St Petersburg, and will I hope enjoy a little rest on the home station at Portsmouth..."); Caroline Norton ("...I send my 'doggerel' – it amused me to write it..."); Mary Seward (7, including some verses); and others such as George du Maurier; Richard Owen (returning a book); Charles Eastlake; Edwin Landseer (4, regarding the 'Spanish Lady'); David Wilkie; John Hayter (2, with sketches); and much else, some annotations, index titled 'British Artists' on blue paper and sheet of blotting paper at front, c.148 leaves (some blank, some excised), half maroon roan gilt, decorative spine gilt stamped 'Autographs' and 'Authoresses/ Artists/ &c.', worn, 4to (235 x 280mm.), [nineteenth-century]
Footnotes
'I SEND MY DOGGEREL – IT AMUSED ME TO WRITE IT': LADY LEWIS' COLLECTION OF WOMEN WRITERS.
As well as a wide correspondence, including comments on Lord Byron from his wife, the album also includes a printed notice, dated January 1845: 'M. & A. Berry are happy in the occasion of this new year to offer their sincere thanks to all the numerous body of distinguished friends, affectionate intimates, and entertaining companions, by whose aid and assistance they have passed the last twenty years of their lives... on a much smaller scale, an attempt will still be made to combine octogenarian cheerfulness, with the valued society of such as may be disposed to allow themselves to assist the OLD FIRM'.
Provenance: Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (née Villiers) (1803-1865); her son Sir Thomas Villiers Lister (1832-1902); thence by descent.
The collection of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (1803-1865) was initially formed through the amalgamation of two significant collections of letters, royal and political correspondence from the collection of her mother the Hon. Theresa Villiers (1775-1856), and that of her close friend, the writer Mary Berry (1763–1852). Impressed by Lady Lewis' writings, Mary Berry bequeathed her papers to her so that she could edit them for publication, and the three volume Extracts of the Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry was published in 1865. To this inheritance Lady Lewis subsequently added her own correspondence and collection of autographs gathered through her wide circle of social, political and literary connections entertained at her home, Kent House, St James's. Not seen outside the family until now, the collection is a remarkable survival and tells the story of a family at the heart of English society. An intricate web of connections and alliances is revealed, bringing together the worlds of royalty and politics, the arts and literature. It is also a story of influential women both as collectors and as correspondents: Theresa Villiers as keeper of royal secrets, Mary Berry and her circle of intellectuals, and, importantly, Lady Lewis as collector and salonnière bringing them all together in this extraordinary collection.