KAISER

All three in black and white. The first and third item lightly aged and creased; the first stained on reverse; the second item lightly aged. ONE: Half-length portrait. 8 x 12.5 cm. Stamped on reverse ‘4 JAN 1950’. A Seated Wilhelm, grey-haired and tight-lipped, with hands joined in front of him, wearing suit and tie and light-grey tweed jacket. TWO: Half-length portrait, apparently from the same shoot as One, with autograph signature. 8 x 11 cm. Written on reverse: ‘HECKINGEN. / SEP. 7. 1951’. Same outfit as One, but with cigarette in right hand.

Both in black and white, and in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Half-length portrait. 10 x 14 cm. A Seated Wilhelm, grey-haired and tight-lipped, with hands joined in front of him, wearing suit and tie and light-grey tweed jacket. On reverse, a typed note addressed to 'Mr. James Dandy / England.', and dated from 'Hechingen, Zezember 1949': 'Herzlichen Dank für Ihr liebes Paket, es hat mich sehr gefreut. / Beste Wünsche u. Grüse'. TWO: View of Hechingen Castle. 8.5 x 13 cm. Typed message on reverse, also signed by him: ‘Herzlichen Dank für das freundliche Gedenken zu Weihnachten.

In 1858 her son Frederick married Princess Victoria, the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; her grandson was Kaiser Wilhem III. For Lady Ashbourne, see her husband’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Before receiving Lady Ashbourne’s invitation, ‘The Duke & Duchess of Abercorns, [sic] my Cousins, had begged us attend a Masonic Concert the 18th.

See the Oxford DNB for both Mackenzie and Haweis, who in 1893 published 'Sir Morell Mackenzie, Physician and Operator: A Memoir compiled and edited from Private Papers and Personal Reminiscences'. The background to the letter is Mackenzie's controversial treatment of Kaiser Frederick III. The Oxford DNB describes how, following the Kaiser's death, Mackenzie 'had to bear constant criticism from his medical colleagues and the world press.

1p., 8vo. Aged and worn. Bigelow was educated at a preparatory school in Potsdam, and was a childhood playmate of the Kaiser and his younger brother, and maintained a friendship with them throughout their lives. On his death at the age of 98 he was the oldest Yale alumnus, and the oldest member of the Athenaeum club in London.

12mo, 2 pp, 10 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with scrap of brown paper mount adhering in top right-hand corner on the reverse (not affecting text). Concerns a volume which 'has been duly forwarded to Count Seckendorff, Comptroller of the Household of Her Majesty the Emperess Frederick'. The Ambassador Sir Edward Malet has asked Rodd to express to the correspondent 'his personal thanks for the second copy you were good enough to forward to him'.