Lot 54
Disraeli Benjamin 1804 - 1881 Fourteen personal and touching letters of correspondence by Benjamin Disraeli including a lengthy, revealing letter following his wife's death in 1872:"... I have not yet seen any one, & the resumption of public labor, tho' inevitable, seems to me impossible... I love my friends too much to visit them with my cares & sorrows. I suppose it will end in taking refuge in an hotel..."
A touching series of fourteen Autograph Letters Signed, "B. Disraeli," and "D," 59 pages, most 4.5" x 7.25", Hughenden Manor, Grosvenor Gate, and St. George Gate, Hanover Square, August 17, 1868 to June 1873 to Henrietta Frances, Lady Chesham (1830-1884). Together with an additional Autograph Letter Signed, "Beaconsfield," 2 pages, 4.5" x 7.25", on mourning stationery, Hughenden Manor, October 10, 1878 addressed in his hand to "The Honourable Mary Cavendish," on the accompanying transmittal envelope and franked, "Beaconsfield." Also together with Mary Anne Disraeli (1792-1872) Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page, 3.5" x 5.25", Grosvenor Gate, [n.d.] to Lady Chesham. Expected folds, small loss to Mary Anne Disraeli letter affecting one word of text, else fine condition overall.
A highly personal correspondence written at a low ebb in Disraeli's life, when he was in opposition and his wife terminally ill. Disraeli's correspondent, Henrietta Frances, wife of William George Cavendish, 2nd Lord Chesham, was a close relative of the Duke of Devonshire. Before being elevated to the peerage on the death of his father in 1863, Cavendish had been an MP for Buckinghamshire. Disraeli himself was one of the other two Members of Parliament for the county.
While many of the letters concern social concerns, some of the letters touch on contemporary politics, reporting to Lady Chesham in one 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, wh[ich]:, however, I sh[oul]d feel in my wood-sales ..." In another he observes: "...I cannot get over the conviction, that the country is sick of what are called 'public men'..."
Disraeli cherished his time in the country, confiding to Lady Chesham, that "once we get to town we are in general, chained to the galleys..." Yet, when his wife's illness forced him to remain in London in the summer of 1872, he admitted some joy in exploring the city: "...We took the opportunity of becoming acquainted with our beloved metropolis, wh[ich]: is a much more wonderful thing, than those, who pass their lives in a dozen streets & a couple of squares, can comprehend: such miles of villas, all of different architecture, such a prodigious number of beautiful churches, &, I grieve to add, gorgeous gin-palaces-In these drives about the environs, we travelled more than 200 miles, & felt the same interest we sh[oul]d have done in a strange land..."
Of particular interest is an eight page January 16, 1873 letter, written a month following the death of his wife, in which he confides to Lady Chesham, in part: "... I have not yet 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 friends too much to visit them with my cares & sorrows. I suppose it will end in taking refuge in an hotel..."
Much more fine content.
Provenance:The Property of The Viscount Cobham sold by Sotheby's 1978
Maggs
Queensland College
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