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WELbeck 0687 0688

THE WALLACE COLLECTION
MANCHESTER SQUARE
LONDON, W.1
24th March 1953

My dear Mr. Seligman,
I have now had time to read your chapter and the appendix to it, and I am writing to thank you more than I can say for sending it to me, and to say how very much I have enjoyed reading it. We should not dream of making use of it in any way without consulting you first.

It really is a very great event that you have found the rue Lafitte inventory, as this is by far the most important document in the history of the Paris collections of Lord Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, and it confirms, so far as I can make out, most of the points which I made in my article, together with a number of other pieces of information which are most illuminating. I cannot conceal from you a wish to see the whole document, and was wondering whether you would consider the possibility of having a photostat made for us. Naturally we would be prepared to pay for it and would not make use of it without consulting you.

I did not quite gather from your letter whether we may keep the type-script, which I see is a copy, or whether you wish this to be returned to you. Perhaps you could let me know? We should very much like to add it to our archives, and look forward to reading your book when it is published.

You ask me to make some comments on the chapter which you say is in the form of a draft. So far as I can see you give a most succinct and equitable account of the story, and the latter part of it is particularly interesting, as we have always been a little vague about the negotiations between Lady Sackville and your father. One point on page 9 which seems to be a little involved is the matter of the destruction of that part of the collection brought over to England by Sir Richard Wallace which was damaged at the fire in the Pantechnicon warehouse on 13th February 1874. Only a comparatively small amount of objects was destroyed in this fire, and I summarise the matter in my article in the Burlington Magazine. By far the greater

/ part

Monsieur Germain Beligman,
Jaques Seligman & Co. Inc.,
5 East 57th Street,
New York 22.