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Benjamin Disraeli

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:NA
Benjamin Disraeli

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Auction Date:2016 Dec 07 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Grouping of fourteen ALSs signed “B. Disraeli” and “D,” fifty-nine pages in total, most approximately 4.5 x 7.25, dated between August 1868 and June 1873. All addressed to Henrietta Frances, Lady Chesham. This intimate correspondence chronicles a decidedly stressful juncture in Disraeli’s life as he was entrenched in his role as opposition leader while his wife, Mary Ann Lewis, had become terminally ill. Although the condition of his wife remains a foremost subject, Disraeli also shares his thoughts on contemporary politics, noting that the “working classes of radical Wycombe are at strike, & there is a plan to transfer the chair-trade to Tory Marlow. This wo[ul]d be a party triumph.” In the summer of 1872, while treating for his wife in London, Disraeli is a bit more lighthearted, and expounds on the small joys of exploring the city, “We took the opportunity of becoming acquainted with our beloved metropolis…a much more wonderful thing, than those, who pass their lives in a dozen streets & a couple squares, can comprehend: such miles of villas, all of different architecture, such a prodigious number of beautiful churches…we travelled more than 200 miles, & felt the same interest we sh[oul]d have done in a strange land.” One particularly somber letter, dated January 16, 1873, a month after the death of his wife, reads, in part: “I have not seen any one, & the resumption of public labor, tho’ inevitable, seems to me impossible. Lord Cairns is coming down here on Monday, wh[ich]: will break the ice, & then I must see others—& the time is pressing…I have now no home except Hughenden, & I must find one. It is a difficult thing—I feel that the fox has his cave, & the wild birds have their nests, but I have no place wherein to lay my head. Lord Beauchamp & others of my friends have placed their houses at my disposal, but I love my friend too much to visit them with my cares & sorrows. I suppose it will end in taking refuge in an hotel.” Also includes an ALS signed “Beaconsfield,” on mourning stationery, dated October 10, 1878, and an ALS from his wife on Grosvenor Gate letterhead, no date. In overall fine condition. A truly unique digest of Disraeli missives.