£800 - £1,200
POTTER, Helen Beatrix. Autograph letter, signed (Beatrix Heelis) to Elizabeth Tyson. Casyle Cottage, Sawrey, January 13 1938. Unpublished and unrecorded.
One sheet, 17.5 x 11.5cm, indistinctly watermarked, 2 pages, with autograph envelope addressed Miss Tyson, Busk House, Ambleside (2)
"It seems almost alive, doesn't it". A charming letter speaking of her maladie de porcelaine and inviting the local antique dealer to see her old oak furniture which is across at "the farm" or "museum":
"...Some day I will come for the Worcester spill vase - it would look well in the cabinet where the other ones "lives" [sic] Good china has so much character that it almost seems alive - doesn't it?
When it is warmer weather I should like you to see my old oak, but it is not in this house - it is across at the farm, where I keep my old rooms as a little museum.
I get queer letters from Miss Owen* [formerly of Belmount Hall, Hawkshead]. The last one was more composed; she sounded rather crazy after the American gun boat incident. She is very pro Italian, but the alliance between Italy-Japan must be perplexing. She says she will come back in spring and clear up and sell. It would be the best thing to do"
*Miss Rebekah Owen (1858-1939) a wealthy and eccentric collector with literary interests who bought Belmount Hall, Hawkshead. In a letter Beatrix Potter wrote "We have an American neighbour and friend... who has proved to us that Americans can be educated and literary - in fact Miss Rebeccah [sic] O - is alarming!"
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*
