£600 - £800
POTTER, Helen Beatrix. Autograph letter, signed, to Elizabeth Tyson. Castle Cottage, Sawrey, January 20, 1939. Unpublished and unrecorded.
17.5 x 11.5cm, indistinct watermark, 2 pages, creased when folded, with autograph envelope addressed Miss Tyson, Busk House, Ambleside, slight discolouration, envelope foxed with tears (2)
Discussing weather and winter ailments, Belmount Hall and its eccentric former owner and the remaining contents of the house:
"Mrs Rogerson* went home to bed. I still feel very limp, and shall have to keep indoors in bad weather. Mr Heelis has had it but goes out.
It seems to be infection - any how I did not catch it at Belmount! I went back once and put the fan with embroidery in the trunk which I closed and sealed with gum paper as best I could. I have not heard for some time from Miss Owen. She is very peculiar. In one letter she said she was sending her keys and "instructions" to another English friend who lives at Bath, telling her what to do after Miss Owen's death. It seems best to leave things as they are, for the present - she had a sales list but I doubt whether she understands what was sold and what remains. I have done my best! It would not surprise me if she left orders for everything to be burnt - a sort of spite or grudge against any one getting her things, even if [smudged] queer weather, it is never 2 or 3 days alike" [with postscript] "I have found pleasure from the china in the hanging cupboard while confined to my bedroom"
*Mary Agnes Rogerson (1884-1977) Beatrix Potter's Housekeeper
Provenance: Elizabeth Tyson (1878-1970) thence by descent in her extended family to the present vendor
Fees apply to the hammer price:
Room and Absentee Bids:
28.8% inc VAT*
Online and Autobids:
30.6% inc VAT*
