Nelson & His World

I have just come across an interesting lot on ebay for sale or offer under the title "Antique Leather Bound Book Signed Horatio Nelson to Lady Hamilton". It's a copy of Johnsons Lives, with the message written on one of the fly leaves. Apparently no actual provenance for it, apart from coming from a house clearance with other marine related items.

There is an additional link http://www.antiquesandchic.com with further pictures of the book and the message.

Not an item I will be making an offer for but I wonder if any of you have any thoughts on its authenticity.

Phil

Phil

It's an interesting one isn't it!

I wish I had time to think it through properly. i.e. when Nelson might have given Emma such a gift and whether that ties with the style of his signature etc. etc.

But more than anything I would love to have the ink chemically analysed - to see if it comes from the correct period.

I know it doesn't actually mean anything but it always worries me when you see a relatively valuable item such as this for sale and the advert has both spelling and grammatical errors in it.

It's illogical but it just makes me feel uneasy.

MB

I think like that too, I think because those sorts of scams you get by email tend to be badly spelt.

I've had a look in the Nelson Encyclopaedia, where there are example signatures. To me it looks most like the example from April 1798, where Nelson had got used to signing with his left hand (just after losing his arm it was a lot more shaky and the H wasn't so fancy). From August 1798, when he was made Baron, he was signing himself just as 'Nelson' until he was made Duke of Bronte. So, my guess would be that if he sent Emma the book, it would have to have been between his arrival in the Med in 1798, and the Battle of the Nile; could that be likely?

A few more random thoughts, observations etc. etc. - just as they come into my head.

It was around the middle of November 1798 that Nelson stopped signing himself as Horatio Nelson. See Nicolas's Distaches & Letters . . . . That makes sense as he wasn't given his peerage until 2nd October and then it would have taken weeks for that information to be communicated to Naples.

To me the writing looks a bit "shaky". One factor could be that that the paper has a somewhat rough texture.

But it could be that he was writing it when he was still suffering the after-effects of the Battle of the Nile.

We know that Emma was caring for him at this time and nursing him back to health so it would make sense that he gave her a gift to show his gratitude.

This is obviously volume 1 of several (4(?) or 6(?)). So would he have given her the whole set or just one volume?

I know that there are some inventories of Nelson and Emma's possessions in existence. I wonder if any of them include a single volume or a whole set of Johnson's "Live of the Poets".

It would be interesting to compare the writing to any of the other letters from that period Aug/Sep 1798.

I feel myself veering towards this being the REAL DEAL!

MB

You might be veering the right way, Mark.

I’m pretty certain all Nelson’s letters to Lady Hamilton were signed ‘Horatio Nelson’ until 16 Oct (or November) 1798, when he began signing himself simply ‘Nelson':



I know – it doesn’t seem possible that news of his Peerage could have travelled so fast from England – but there it is!? Wishful thinking perhaps? Or a misdated letter by Nelson? Nicolas does note (underneath the letter), that Nelson had the news of his Peerage on 17 November. Obviously Nicolas doubted the date and was leaning towards a mistake.

Emma annotated the letter as follows:



The similarity to 'Ever yours faithfully' in the Johnson's Lives inscription is notable too.

As far as I can tell from a quick Google, Johnson’s Lives (of the Poets) was published in 3 volumes between 1779 and 1781. Afraid I haven’t had time to check out later editions yet. But a look through Emma’s auctioned items from 1813 - ‘A Catalogue of the Elegant Household Furniture… The Property of a Lady of Dinstinction’ brings up the following interesting item in the books section:



There’s also a Johnson’s Dictionary bundled together with ‘A Common Prayer’ (book?) - Lot 138.

The troublesome thing is that there were numerous similarly titled publications around at the time:

The most famous - Boswell’s ‘The Life of Samuel Johnson LLD’ was published in 2 vols in 1791, 3 vols in 1793 and in different permutations ever since. It’s better known as ‘Boswell’s Life of Johnson,’ which appears on the spines of most editions (including the first.)

There are also other authors' lives of Johnson from the period we’re looking at. Nothing specifically titled ‘Johnson’s Life’ though.
Then there are pre-1798 editions of ‘Johnson’s Life of Swift… Dryden… Pope… Milton’ etc.

Johnson’s lives, Johnson’s life, Life of Johnson… sadly, James Abbott’s auction catalogue is as unhelpful as it is brief.
But it’s an interesting entry wrt this item.

Lot 138 for ‘A Common Prayer’ (book?) is also of interest – as this may be the copy of a book that Nelson definitely did give to Emma on 19 May 1799.

How interesting all this is!

I have a vague feeling that the Prayer Book Nelson gave to Emma is in the Nelson Museum Monmouth - though my memory gets shakier! I'll poke around on line if I get time.

Looking again at the signature, I wonder if it could be a clever fake. The 'y' of 'faithfully' has a much stronger downstroke than was usual in Nelson's customary farewell. Also, the space between Horatio and Nelson is quite wide - maybe because the writer was glancing at the signature he was copying from.

http://tinyurl.com/bqav4f2

I've certainly enjoyed reading all your very interesting replies to my original post.

I too thought that if this really is a genuine gift from Nelson, then the period of the latter half of 1798 after the Nile or early 1799 was probably the optimum date, because the dedication itself is quite formally written with his using Lady Hamilton, rather than something more personal such as perhaps, my dearest Emma etc. which he would have used as their relationship blossomed.

However, I also agree with one of the comments about the writing being rather shaky. Did his injuries and his general health in the period after the Nile affect his writing to any great extent? In quickly flicking through Rina Prentice's "Authentic Nelson" for any references to signed book gifts from him (I didn't find any but may have missed something), I came across an illlustration of a letter from Nelson to his wife, dated April 1798 (p109). This example, although pre Nile, appears written in a more confident and clear style than the book dedication, with also some variations to the signature itself.

With what could be a rather important historical item, it's rather a pity that the seller has not taken the time to try and get this authenticated in some way before putting it on the market, particularly as the initial asking price is quite high. If it is the genuine article (and I do hope it is), then perhaps Sotheby's or Christie's would have been the better option, which may also have sparked some interest from the NMM.

Phil

If he was confident in its provenance he probably would have gone to Sotheby's or other reputable dealer. Equally anyone attempting to sell a fake would go no where near them and try and get some greedy but hopeful fool to take it.

You'll note he states he gained the book from a house sale with other 'top of the range' marine antiques. If the owner of that was a noted collector then that would substantiate his story even some details of the other antiques which could be validated. As he does not mention either it means nothing.

He also states he is confident the signature is 'period' - how? Every indication is that he does not want to be sued for selling a forgery under false pretences.

If anyone wants to buy this I have several hundred emails offering millions just for the use of your bank account I can forward to you.


Joss

Do you think maybe the seller doesn't know who Horatio Nelson and Lady Hamilton actually were? There isn't the usual 'Admiral Nelson was Britain's greatest admiral...' etc sales blurb that there often is on auction sites. And it is a house clearance site in any case, not a specialist dealer or auctioneer. Maybe he just thinks it's an antique book? (hence, describing it as 'period' writing)

Asking for offers in the region of £9000 for an item with no provenance, suggests to me that the seller is fully aware of Nelson's fame!
Maybe its just me? I can remember seeing the item when it was first advertised and dimissed it as a fake. Nothing I have seen or read since has swayed me.
It just strikes me as clumsy, scruffy even. There is no fluency to the writing, the linking of the letters in the signature is all over the place. The 'N' in the signature definitely rings alarm bells for me, it does not resemble any other example I have seen.
When presenting someone held in high regard a gift, Nelson would have paid attention to detail, and made sure any inscription was faultless. From where i'm sitting, this looks as though it has been scribbled in haste, and thrown at Emma on his way out of the door!