[Sir Sidney Colvin, British Museum curator, biographer of Keats and friend of R. L. Stevenson.] Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed woman, regarding a drawing ‘of small value or none’, copied from Giulio Romano.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Signed 'Sidney Colvin'. The recipient is not named, but is addressed as ‘Dear Madam’. The letter begins: ‘I am afraid I made a mistake yesterday, in addressing you as E. M. Sharpe Esqr. - but it was the address of the Natural History Museum which misled me.’ In order to make sure this time, he is addressing the present letter ‘to the care of Mr. Bowdler Sharpe: to whom also the drawing has this day been returned.’ It is from ‘a well-known design occurring in Raphael’s fresco of the Incendio del Borgo at Rome. A chalk sketch for the figure, usually given to [?]. himself, but more proably by his pupil Giulio Romano, is in the Uffizi at Florence. This drawing is not G. Giulio, but by a later and much weaker copyist, and is of small value or none.’ He ends by asking her to ‘forgive the dalay and confusion in the matter’.