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An important archive of previously unpublished Bloomsbury letters
An Important Archive of Letters relating to Helen Anrep and the Bloomsbury Group sells for £50,000
Auction: Thursday 3rd September
Gorringes are delighted to announce thatf an important archive of previously unpublished letters written by members of the Bloomsbury Group sold for £50,000 in our September auction.
This fascinating collection of material contains over 700 letters, often of a personal nature, between Helen Anrep (1885-1965) and other members of the Bloomsbury circle, including Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry and Augustus John.
Helen Anrep met the painter Roger Fry in the mid-1920s at a party at the studio of her friend Vanessa Bell. Following this encounter, Anrep left her husband, the Russian mosaicist Boris Anrep, and lived with Fry as man and wife, providing critical support for his work, until Fry's death in 1934.
Although neither an artist nor an intellectual herself, Anrep was deeply interested in the arts and became a close friend and confidante of many of the Bloomsbury group. The content of the letters in the archive covers a broad range of topics, from family news, recipes and comments on gardening to more emotional and personal issues. One of the most poignant letters is written by Vanessa Bell shortly after the death of her son Julian in the Spanish Civil War in 1937. She writes:
"Helen dearest. In case you hear - Julian died from wounds a few days ago." V
Helen Anrep's contribution to the Bloomsbury group in terms of friendship and support is clearly depicted in this collection of correspondence which offers Bloomsbury scholars the opportunity to acquire further insights into the complex web of relationships within the group.
The letters date from 1919 to 1947, covering the whole span of the Bloomsbury era. The value of her friendship to other members of the group is best summed up in a letter written to Helen in 1947 by David 'Bunny' Garnett in which he says:
"But Helen, how I should like to talk to you...you must come for more than an night and talking first about our friends, we shall recall the flavour of the past, the atmosphere which made up our lives and which still, by some miracle, you have preserved."
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