VICTORIA, Queen.

£15,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Nine autograph letters and one note, sent to her literary editor Sir Arthur Helps. Correspondence from the Queen to Helps, discussing the private circulation and eventual publication of Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands (1868). After Helps's death, his letters were returned to Victoria according to his wishes; she destroyed some and others entered archives. This is the only piece of correspondence we have traced in private hands.The sprightly letters revolve around the production of two versions of Leaves: the first for her close family and friends, and the second for the public. Victoria's letters show her painstaking attention to detail in matters of editing, illustration, and binding; her warm regard for members of her Balmoral entourage; and her obvious delight in all things Scottish. They span three years and are addressed from the principal royal residences at Windsor, Osborne, and Balmoral.Arthur Helps (1813-1875) was a writer and, from 1860, the Clerk of the Privy Council, in which role he became close to Victoria and Prince Albert. He first assisted Victoria with publishing a volume of Albert's speeches after his death; Leaves was their next venture. The earliest letter in the group was initially sent to Helps in November 1864 from the publishers Smith, Elder, & Co along with a "revize of pages 41 to 48", presumably from the private version of Leaves. The letter was annotated by Victoria with the comment "There is hardly anything to correct in here

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