A collection of 13 letters [manuscript] : autograph manuscript signed.
1651
Items
Details
Title
A collection of 13 letters [manuscript] : autograph manuscript signed.
Created/published
London, circa 1651 - 1666.
Description
13 items
Associated name
Sotheby, James, 1607-1685, sender.
Sotheby, Mary, 1697.
Sotheby, Mary, 1697.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain -- England -- London.
Item Details
Call number
FAST ACC 271894 (flat)
Folger-specific note
Purchase made possible by The Charles W. Engelhard Acquisitions Fund. From dealer's description: "A collection of 13 letters, folded for posting, occasional tears, some seals complete although broken in two. Transcripts of all the letters will be provided with the collection. VJames and Mary Sotheby, a branch of the eponymous auction house family, appear to have been recently married. James was a London merchant, living in Hackney. Mary lives first in Henley with her father, then moves to Chelmsford where she lodges with a Mrs Cobbett. The letters span a period of some 15 years, from 1651 to 1666, and provide a somewhat unusual snapshot of the life of this 17th-century couple. Of their four children, James, their firstborn, is the only one to survive beyond three or four years old. In later life James became a successful merchant, landowner and noted collector of books and art. His famous collection was dispersed at Sotheby’s in 1955. These are not love letters. One searches in vain for effusive language and finds instead a kind of terse pragmatism. But each letter is framed by affection: Sotheby begins with salutations such as “Deare Heart” and “Sweete Heart”, and usually signs off with “Thy Truly Loving Husband”; each letter is addressed on the outside “To His Deare Wife” or “To His Loving Wife”. The body of the letters suggests an implicit care in the actions and domestic issues they allude to. Sotheby mentions gifts or provisions he is sending home, and usually apologises for their insufficiency. Exactly how they structured their relationship remains unclear. But, despite his appeals (“well I could wish to heare thou wert in A condition fit to come to London where I thinke it were better for thee to bee”), they live separately during the years recorded here. At certain points he chides her for her “unkindnesse” or “neglect”, and elsewhere he remarks on her “uncharitable letter”. The resulting picture of their relationship has not the slightest rosy tint (although we have only the husband’s half of the correspondence); James treats the good and the bad with equanimity. And this era provides plenty of bad; a key point of interest is that the period covered by about half of the correspondence – the years 1665-66 – coincides with Great Plague of London. Letters from the capital during this time are scarce because, although no-one knew exactly how the disease was transmitted, they were wary of spreading it by any means. James’ reaction to this traumatic period is noteworthy: mentions of “the Sicknesse” are mostly glancing, and he treats the subject with the same level of interest or indifference as any other, but this grim subject still infuses the letters. Sotheby sends frequent reports on the spread of the plague but accurate information seems to be sparse and often confused: “the Sicknesse is increased this weeke yet not much, only 7 in the whole of that disease; the same number within the Walles that was Last weeke”, and his wish that the “decrease of the Sicknesse which I hope wee shall have A further abatement of” is quickly followed by another increase. At times we wonder whether he is carefully measuring out information so as not to concern her or at least to justify his continued presence in the capital: “if thou didst consider well of thou wouldest not moue upon so slender a ground as upon the increase as so small a number to Leave the City, which thou doest or nearest knowe that I cannot do without leaving all businesse in an ill posture”. Ordered from Dean Cooke, Manuscripts & Rare Books, D9286, 2019-03-04, "An Armory Athenaeum Manuscripts & Rare Books in two parts." Ref: 7716
Folger accession
271894