ALS signed “Charles (A. Lindbergh),” three pages, 8.5 x 11, July 15, 1973. Letter to one of his closest friends, Sam Proctor, in Australia. In part: “I had hoped to write to you long before this about another visit to Australia, as you so considerately suggested in your letter. But a virus I contracted some months ago has forced me to curtail activities and travelling. I lost a lot of weight, and just as I started to gain it back, I contracted shingles! I now feel much better, and am gaining weight again, but chest pains—although diminishing—continue, and my blood count is not quite back to normal.
“You were good to suggest I bring my wife the next time I came to your wonderful country. I hope very much that I can do so. I have told her a lot about the day I spent with you, and she would really like to accompany me. (She has been working hard on the third volume of her ‘Diaries and Letters,’ and sent the typescript off for galleys a few days ago).
“She and I are spending about a week here in Montana with our second son, Land, on the ranch he is operating…Sunday I fly to Minnesota where I hope to be of some help in relation to a state park named after my father.” In fine condition, with a few trivial wrinkles.
In October of 1972, Lindbergh was diagnosed with lymphoma for which he underwent surgery and radiation therapy which severely weakened him and caused him to lose 30 pounds. This letter represents the first time that Lindbergh would offer such a frank description of his failing health to one of his closest friends. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
