Dutch-born dancer (1876–1917), née Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, whose renown as a dancer was permanently overshadowed by her activities as an Axis spy during World War I. After working as a model and circus performer, Zelle began performing as an “exotic” dancer in 1905 and changed her name to the more colorful Mata Hari. Her erotically charged performances and mysterious persona captured the imagination of audiences wherever she performed, and her charms were such that she attained a considerable reputation as a high-class courtesan whose “clients” included Europe’s political and military elite. After claiming to work as an intelligence agent for the French during World War I, she was unmasked as a double agent who used her relative ease of movement across international borders (as a “neutral” Dutch subject) to pass secrets to the Germans. Captured in her Paris hotel room on February 13, 1917, she was tried, convicted (despite inconclusive evidence against her), and executed by firing squad at the age of forty-one. Rare ALS in French, one page, 7 x 8.75, personal Reuilly-St. James letterhead, “Monday” [no date]. Mata Hari writes to an unnamed gentleman, saying that she would very much like to meet with him, and that if he prefers, he may come to her home. She concludes the letter with “distinguished” sentiments. In very fine, fresh condition. While Mata Hari is elusive in any form, handwritten letters in such an appealing state of preservation are of the greatest scarcity. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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