This is part of a collection of 11 letters Edward Lear wrote to Mrs. Ellen Rawsom and her daughter Constance which were sold at Sotheby’s on 10 December 2013. Does anyone know where they ended up?
The catalogue description:
SERIES OF 11 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED, TO MRS ELLEN RAWSON (6) AND HER DAUGHTER CONSTANCE (5),
one with a pen and ink drawing of Lear astride an elephant, discussing his art (“…My last – & perhaps best, – large oil paintings (Argos, Pentedatelo, Gwalior, & Ravenna,) should have been sold at Christie’s, but just now Christie’s have odiously set forth that they have not been applied to early enough…”) and poetry, his life in Italy (“…I weary exceedingly of living so much alone – tho’ I don’t see how it is to be helped…”) and plans to visit India (“…Can I bring you back a Nelliphant? Or some India Rubber or India Nink?…”), repeatedly promising to send various autographs for Constance’s collection, 40 pages, 8vo and 12mo, San Remo, Genoa, Derby, London, and Brighton, 27 August 1872 to 25 May 1884, also with an autograph address panel by Wilkie Collins, to Lear (postmarked 25 August 1883), marginal nicks and tears, some dust staining