Blog posts of '2015' 'June'

Now held by the British Library, this wee volume of psalms, containing a portrait of Henry VIII, is known as Anne Boleyn's Gold Book. She purportedly handed this book to one of her maids of honour when she was on the scaffold, moments before her execution, in 1536. During the later Middle Ages, small volumes were fashionable among the literate elite. Prayer books, and in particular Books of Hours, were among the favoured content and often appealed to women in particular. Their smaller dimensions made them lighter and easier for the owner to carry with them throughout the day; and, worn hanging by a fine chain from a girdle - using the hoops which can be clearly seen in this example - they also made fabulous jewels and adornments. This small girdle book, containing several psalms, measures just 4cm by 3cm. The suggestion that this particular small girdle book was once owned by Henry VIII's second Queen, Anne Boleyn and was presented by her, when she stood on the scaffold, to one of her maids of honour is delightful and intriguing but hard to substantiate. In 1873, Robert Marsham described a manuscript then in the possession of his brother, Charles Marsham, 3rd Earl of Romney, in an article (published in Archaeologia 44, 1873) entitled "On a Manuscript Book of Prayers in a Binding of Gold Enamelled, said to have been given by Queen Anne Boleyn to a lady of the Wyatt family: together with a Transcript of its Contents". The lady in question is traditionally held to have been Lady Margaret Lee, sister of Thomas Wyatt and thought to have been one of Queen Anne Boleyn's ladies in waiting. Marsham himself, in his Archaeologia article, acknowledges that there is no proof to substantiate the family tradition, noting that it is not mentioned by George and Richard Wyatt when they compiled the 'family memorials' in 1727. But Marsham does suggest that the tradition dates back to at least the mid-18th century. George Vertue, in his 1745 'Notes on the Fine Arts' says that he had seen in the possession of Mr Wyatt a "most curious little prayer-book MS on vellum, set in gold, ornaments graved gold enamelled black - such were given to Queen Anne Boleyn's maids of honour - and was thus given to one of the Wyat family, and has been preserved for seven generations to this time". There is also reference in the Minutes of the Society of Antiquaries, alongside a drawing of the prayer book, from 1725 as follows: "24 Mar 1724/5. Mr Corry brought a manuscript on vellum in a gold case enameled curiously, being forms of devotion from the Psalms etc or Consolations in distress. This belonged to Queen Anna Bollen and now in the hands of Mrs Wyat of Charter House, in which family it has been ever since her death. She also has a original picture of her". The volume seems to have passed from the possession of the Wyatt family to that of Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (1776-1839), the first Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, of Stowe House, at some point before 1818-1819: it appears in a catalogue of the Duke's books drawn up at that time. It was then inherited by the second Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (1779-1861). The second Duke sold it to Bertram Ashburnham (1797-1878), 4th Earl of Ashburnham, in 1849. It was purchased by the British Museum in 1883 from the 5th Earl of Ashburnham, together with over a thousand other Stowe manuscripts. Marsham himself seems to doubt the veracity of the family tradition although he was able to confirm that the portrait mentioned in the 1725 minutes was also then in possession of his brother in the 1870s. Whatever the truth behind the legend of association with Anne Boleyn, there is no doubt that this is a beautiful, historic and rare example of a Tudor miniature book. It is now held by the British Library (Stowe MS 956).

Harper Lee, beloved of many a reader for her 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is when compared to many contemporary writers shrouded in mystery. To date To Kill a Mockingbird is her only published novel; she gave her last formal interview in 1960 and has consistently shunned both the limelight and literary examination for decades. Although she is reputed to be a prolific letter writer few examples of her personal correspondence have come to public attention. But as Lee's friends, contemporaries and correspondents begin to die (Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926) some few of her letters are creeping out. Following the death her close friend, the New York architect Harold Caufield, some of her letters to Caufield were sold privately to a rare book dealer, Erij DuRon. DuRon in turn sold them in 2011 to the Californian retired trial lawyer and book collector, Paul Kennerson. The largest set of Lee's letters to come to market to date comprised 13 examples, written by Lee to a fan, Don Salter. Salter sold them through an on line auction in 2011. Lee's biographer, Charles J Shields, is reported as comparing the rarity of her private correspondence coming to market to that of 'a meteor hitting the earth'. So six letters offered at Christie's New York this week are a rare treasure for the Lee fan and book collector alike, offering revealing insight into one of the 20th century's most beloved and least known authors. Christie's described them as "deep and unguarded correspondence". In one, Lee tells of her shock and delight at the reception of To Kill a Mockingbird: "We were surprised, stunned & dazed by the Princeton Review,” she wrote. “I haven’t recovered my voice on the subject enough to say anything.” In another, of more downbeat tone, she tells of struggles to write. In others she reveals her conflicted feelings towards her hometown, and her adoration for her father, A C Lee, who was the model for Mockingbird's Atticus Finch. The collection of letters, apparently written to Caufield between 1956 and 1961 (some are undated) when she was writing To Kill a Mockingbird and the soon to be published Go Set a Watchman, had a pre-sale estimate of between $150,000 and $250,000. Bidding started at $80,000 but failed to top $90,000 and the letters remained unsold. The auction seemed ideally timed to attract buyers, amidst heightened in interest in Lee's life and works triggered by publication of Marja Miller's controversial biographical insight, Life with Harper Lee last year and just about a month before the much-anticipated publication of Lee's second novel Go Set a Watchman. One wonders whether potential buyers were deterred by sense that Lee herself would not have wished her private correspondence to offered for sale in the first place. Michael Morrison, a representative of Lee's publisher, HarperCollins, is reported as doubting that Lee would happy to hear her letters were being sold. A spokeswoman for Christie’s said that the letters might be re-offered at auction at a later date or could remain with the seller, Paul Kennerson.