A COLLECTION of rare letters signed by Mary Queen of Scots has sold at an auction in Edinburgh.
The historic letters were part of the appeals made by the Queen to a Highland family urging them to keep the peace in and around Inverness during the time rival families were fighting for control of land across Scotland.
The written documents date back almost 500 years and include a selection of letters and other forms of documents signed by Mary Queen of Scots, her father, James V, son, James VI and I, and mother, Mary of Guise.
Described as one of the “most important” collections of historical Scottish manuscripts ever offered for sale, the rare documents are part of a collection of papers from Kilravock Castle, near Croy.
Five of the letters are signed by Mary Queen of Scots, who visited the castle as a 20-year-old in 1562 and was received by Hugh Rose, the tenth Laird of Kilravock, who was seen as an influential figure in the area. The young Queen was trying to garner support during her first trip north.
The letters, jointly signed by Mary’s husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, date between September and October 1565, and came shortly before Darnley conspired with Protestant lords to murder his wife’s trusted secretary, before he was murdered the following year.
It was the scandal around his murder that eventually led to Mary’s arrest and eventual forced abdication, renouncing the throne, in favour of her infant son James VI.
Cathy Tait, head of books and manuscripts at the auctioneer Lyon and Turnbull, said there was a “great deal” of interest from a wide range of collectors.
She said: “We are absolutely delighted with the results of the archive from Kilravock Castle.
“There was a great deal of interest from a wide range of collectors, both private and institutional.
“The documents sold today comprise a range of very old and important items, illuminating Scotland’s history, and we are pleased that they have found good homes.”
A letter from Mary Queen of Scots to the Laird of Kilravock, appointing him Sheriff for Inverness and dated 26th September 1565, fetched the highest price from the collection as it sold for £15,120.
In the same sale, a collection of original drawings by one of the most celebrated and best-loved children’s authors, Roald Dahl, sold for £23,940.
The sketches were produced by Dahl in black ballpoint pen for his memoir, Boy (1984), in which he describes his experience of growing up.
In the book, he writes about his childhood exploits, including playing a prank with his friends on the local sweetshop owner, Mrs Pratchett, by putting a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar. To accompany this tale, Dahl drew a mouse lying on top of the sweets with its legs in the air.
The drawings were found in an envelope marked Dahl’s drawings and odds and sods, which belonged to Ian Craig, the former art director at the author’s publishing firm, Jonathan Cape, in London.
The sketches were sold as part of the production archive from the late Craig’s estate and included Craig’s own designs, as well as the publisher’s original page layouts and correspondence.
Dominic Somerville-Brown, Lyon and Turnbull’s rare books and manuscripts specialist, said: “This archive is unique in the Roald Dahl canon – it’s very rare to find material by his own hand.
“This is reflected in the price achieved which also demonstrates the enduring popularity of his children’s stories 35 years after his death.”
