Autograph Album Featuring Letter from Charles Darwin at Anderson & Garland
The Letters & Autographs book coming to auction
A collection of correspondence written to a prominent Scottish Liberal MP will go under the hammer at Anderson & Garland on July 10 in its Collector’s Auction.
Among the highlights is an autograph letter from Charles Darwin written on headed paper from his home at Down House in Kent and dated April 15. In the letter, Darwin thanks the recipient, identified as ‘Grove’, for assisting in the legal placement of his son George Howard Darwin at Lincoln’s Inn.
The album once belonged to Robert W. Campbell, a Liberal MP in Scotland who was deeply embedded in the political and cultural circles of his time. Campbell’s correspondence collection spans notable figures from the 19th and early 20th centuries including politicians William Ewart Gladstone, Winston Churchill, Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Arthur James Balfour, and David Lloyd George.
It also features letters, postcards, and signatures from artists, military figures and nobility, including Helen and Stephen Gladstone, Wyke Bayliss, Sir Francis Carruthers Gould, John Morley, the Marquess of Lorne, the Earl of Rosebery, and George Nathaniel Curzon.
“This is one of the most extraordinary autograph albums we’ve had the privilege to handle," said
Fred Wyrley-Birch, Director and Auctioneer at Anderson & Garland. "The breadth of historic figures featured is remarkable, but the inclusion of a letter from Charles Darwin, especially one so personal, is something truly special.”
The album is offered with an estimate of £1,000-£2,000.
