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Frederick the Great

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:70,000.00 - 80,000.00 USD
Frederick the Great

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Auction Date:2015 Jan 14 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : 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
King of Prussia (born 1712) from 1740 until his death in 1786. His political prowess and enlightened attitudes toward religion, learning, and the humanities earned him the sobriquet ‘Frederick the Great.’ Collection of 20 untranslated letters, 19 ALSs and one LS, all in French, all signed “Federic,” all dated circa 1777–1785, one page each, various sizes, and all to Eleonore de Maupertuis, Lady of the Household to Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, Frederick’s younger sister. Letters reflect Frederick’s concern for Amalia’s health after she suffered a stroke in 1773 and underscore the close relationship between the siblings. In overall fine condition, with central horizontal and vertical folds to most of the letters. Accompanied by a brown sheet with a late 18th-century caption which reads, “Collection de Lettres de Frederic le Grand Roi de Prusse, de Sa main propre; a feue Madame de Maupartuis Gouvernante de feue la Princess Amelie Soeur de ce Roi.”

Seven years younger than Frederick, Anna Amalia became the Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg in 1756, and spent most of her time in Berlin, where she remained until her death in 1787. Like her brother, she had a strong inclination towards music, and developed a reputation as a composer and musical patron, achieving modest amounts of fame for her chamber works. Her house was run by Eleonore de Maupertuis, who had become close with the family beginning in 1744, when she married Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, a close confidant of Frederick’s and the head of the Prussian Academy of Science. This extensive collection of letters, showing the king’s deep affection for his sister, offers a unique look into Anna Amalia’s life, accounts of which are difficult to find.