Pippa Deeley Auctions
Lot 62
A collection of letters and papers to, from and relating to Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), comprised of (in date order): Letter to Kipling dated 01.10.1909 from Robert Baden Powell (1857-1941), letter to Kipling dated 22.10.1909 from Field Marshal Lord Roberts (1832-1914), letter to Mrs Caroline Kipling (1862-1939), dated 13.12.1909 from Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925), letter from Kipling dated 05.01.1910 to his secretary Miss Janet Coates, card from Kipling to Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) dated 07.04.1910, 'Dear Mr Roosevelt, Just back from the Continent after an automobile trip from one end of France to the other. I gather from a few casual references in the press that you were next door and I nearly wrote to thank you for the splendid speech you made in Egypt where I expect there will be some trouble later, that was good work. I don't usually go up to the village much in the summer and if I did it would be about the last place where I could get to see you. But if you and Mrs Roosevelt could slip down here for lunch any time (it is only two hours in an automobile) or better still spend the night with us there's nothing we'd like better. I can give you dead quiet, a view of ordinary English country life in a small way (which is different from the big lay-out that you'll get) and if you want to want to get a sweat on you by any form of manual labour we can meet you with axe or spade. If that suits the ??? of your arrangements, perhaps your people could fix it. I want to see you very much. We are having one hell of a political time. Ever sincerely Rudyard Kipling. PS Do you remember the 'Hereditary enemy' you used to tell me about at Washington in the years before the flood. I told you that she didn't hate you.', a letter to Kipling, undated from George F Crouch and correspondence from Sears and Patton Solicitors dated 29.03.1921 and 02.04.1921 to Miss Coates. The collection also includes assorted correspondence relating to Charles Lewis-Hind (1862-1927), author, journalist and art critic and his wife Henriette 'Miggles', who was the first wife of the artist George Hitchcock (they separated in 1904). Henriette Lewis-Hind published a biography of American artist Gari Melchers (1860-1932) work in 1928. A signed handwritten letter from H G Wells (1866-1946) dated 03.10.31 to Mrs Hind, a letter from American artist James Jebusa Shannon (1862-1923) dated 13.04.1928 to 'My Dear Miggles', a letter in French, possibly from the French painter Jean-Francois Raffaelli to 'Chère Mademoiselle', a draft copy of a long letter to George Hitchcock from Henriette after he left her for the artist Cecil Jay on the headed note paper of their Dutch residence 'Schuil En Burg, Egmond a/d Hoef, Holland', and other letters and work relating to Charles Lewis-Hind. The vendor's mother when she was a girl, also wrote to and received replies from the writers and poets Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) and Walter De La Mare (1873-1956).There is the possibility that this collection is connected to Miss Janet Coates who was Kipling's secretary until 30.06.1911 when it is documented that she left his employ 'to better herself'. The correspondence relating to Kipling dates from the time of her employment as his secretary. The letters addressed to her from her solicitors Sears and Patton of Vancouver, Canada in March 1921 were sent to the Jericho Country Club, Point Grey, BC, Canada and refer to her purchase of a lot of real estate in 1911. The items connected to Mr and Mrs Lewis-Hind date mainly from the 1920's and 30's. Although the two collections may not be linked, it could be speculated that Miss Coates also came into contact with the Lewis-Hinds after her time with Kipling. The vendors have no idea where the collection originated. CONDITION REPORT: If you require further images of this lot or a condition report please contact us with your request as condition reports have not been included in the description
