ALS signed “A. Conan Doyle,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, Athenaeum letterhead, no date, but postmarked January 1, 1905. In full, “I shall come back to Gala that night, so I shall want three bedrooms and a big sitting room at the Douglas Hotel for Tuesday and Wednesday unless my mother fails to come in which case I'll warn you. So glad if you would fix it. I've now got both the Hawick & Selkirk free press under control. Better not speak about it, but I consider it enormously important. Now I want a Galashids Edition of the Hawick Free Press. I'll supply (or have supplied) the politics. Many thanks for good news & all your pains. Wilson is quite ready to give that lecture at gala and it has been a great success in Hawick though the opposition assembled in force. I don't know how funds are with you in Gala, but don't ever let a good chance pass for want of funds so long as I have a dollar.” After his signature, Doyle adds “Norwich was bad!” In fine condition, with a central horizontal mailing fold. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, hand-addressed by Doyle.
The famed author does some politicking via this letter—a subject he was well-equipped to address given his unsuccessful 1900 Parliamentary campaign. Pro-military and a rabid supporter of the British Empire, he ran as a Conservative candidate—a disadvantage in Liberal Edinburgh. Years later, he admitted that he was glad that he had lost as he was never that interested in the electoral process—but still willing to “supply (or have supplied) the politics.” His reference to his mother is interesting as three years later, she was impetus behind his acceptance of a knighthood—something ‘Sir Arthur’ saw as a ‘discredited title.’ Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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