A collection of Alfred Wainwright’s personal letters are set to go up for auction.
The rare collection is being put up for sale by 1818 Auctioneers at J36 Rural Auction Centre on the Cumbria Lancashire border.
Estimated to be worth between £1,000 to £1,500, 20 handwritten and signed letters up for sale and several span multiple pages, alongside typescripts, greetings cards, and clippings.
The letters will be put up for sale as part of the firm’s Antiquarian, Rare and Collectable Books and Maps Auction, which is live now and closes online at 6pm on Sunday 7 September.
The correspondence, which dates from 1955 to 1988, was sent to Miss Ruth Pearce, a teacher from Oswestry with a passion for fell walking who struck up a decades-long pen-pal friendship with Wainwright after writing to him about his first Pictorial Guide.
The letters provide a window into Wainwright’s life and work, with candid references to his progress on his celebrated guides, reflections on his walking holidays in Scotland, and affectionate praise for Miss Pearce’s own knowledge of the fells.
In one 1960s letter, Wainwright humorously confesses, ‘the character of my wanderings has changed completely…I have become flabby. I have become a tourist.’
The final letter in the collection, dated September 1988, is especially poignant. With his eyesight failing, Wainwright writes: ‘These days I have to be content with memories of happy days gone by for ever.’
Rob Kerr, Specialist Book Expert at 1818 Auctioneers, said: “This is a truly charming and intimate collection of correspondence, revealing Wainwright not just as the revered author of the fell guides, but as a warm and thoughtful man who cherished his friendships and his love of the fells.
“Collectors and admirers of Wainwright will immediately appreciate the rarity and emotional depth of this archive.”
Bidding is open now via 1818 Auctioneers’ website, with the timed online auction closing at 6pm on Sunday 7 September.
People can also view the items at 1818 Auctioneers between 10am and 4pm on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 29 August and at the same time on the Wednesday 3, Thursday 4 and Friday 5 September.
