An early autograph letter by Queen Victoria (1819–1901) to the prominent British statesman Lord John Russell (1792–1878), later twice Prime Minister of Great Britain. Written from Buckingham Palace on 25 January 1840, when Victoria was only twenty years old, less than three years after her accession and only weeks before her marriage to Prince Albert. The letter is written on distinctive black-bordered mourning stationery, with Queen Victoria's crowned royal monogram at the upper left. Using the formal royal third-person style, Victoria informs Lord John Russell that she is returning a letter which had inadvertently been mislaid and consequently not returned to him when it should have been: “The Queen returns Lord John Russell the letter, which by some negligence was mislaid & which ought to have been returned to him long ago.” Lord John Russell was one of the leading British statesmen of the Victorian period. At the time of this letter he was a senior member of Lord Melbourne's government and served as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies; he would later serve twice as Prime Minister. The letter is also an appealing example of Queen Victoria's formal ministerial correspondence, in which she refers to herself in the third person as “The Queen” rather than using the intimate first-person style found in her family correspondence. An attractive early Victorian royal manuscript combining Queen Victoria's autograph handwriting, an important political recipient, Buckingham Palace provenance, the notably early date of 1840, black-bordered mourning stationery and her crowned royal monogram. Dimensions of each page: 17.8 × 11.5 cm. The letter is written on a folded double sheet forming four pages, with writing on the first page only and the remaining three pages blank.
Auction 01: Auction 01 – Historical Letters, Documents & Autographs — Melis Antiques & Art