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ALS signed “A. Conan Doyle,” one page, 4.5 x 7.25, personal Undershaw, Hindhead, Haslemere letterhead with "Patientia Vincit" stag crest, no date. Handwritten letter to “Murray,” in full: “It’s being a weekend will prevent my coming up for I have always several visitors. I hope when you can come down you will let me know. Very much interested in your views upon the Dreyfus case. I fancy that the Government may know upon evidence which they dare not disclose (spy or traitor evidence) that he is guilty & have convicted him on a bogus document.” In very good condition, with dampstaining to the bottom.
Written on Conan Doyle's Undershaw stationery during the height of the Dreyfus Affair, this letter finds the creator of Sherlock Holmes weighing one of the era's most contentious political controversies. Writing to a correspondent named Murray, Doyle speculates that French authorities may have possessed undisclosed intelligence while relying upon a "bogus document" to secure Alfred Dreyfus's conviction, revealing a nuanced and uncertain position at a moment when the affair continued to divide public opinion across Europe. Particularly interesting in retrospect, the letter predates Doyle's later prominence as a public advocate in several celebrated miscarriage-of-justice cases, most notably those of George Edalji and Oscar Slater.
From the personal collection of a lifelong collector, teacher, and traveler with a passion for world history. His collecting years ranged from the 1970s to the present day, meaning that several of the premier pieces have not been on the market in decades.
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