Wells, H.G.

a lively, intimate series of family letters, covering a wide range of subjects from his imminent wedding to financial affairs ("...I pulled in £462 last year...", "...I am succeeding old chap! I've made very nearly an thousand pounds this twelvemonth...") to his prediction of the atomic bomb ("...I explained the [   ] of the atomic bomb half a century ago &; it is rather infuriating to have all these journalistic half-wits explaining that here's something Mr. Wells did not foresee. It's a strange frightful phase this poor little planet is passing through...": 27 October 1945, two and a half months after the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki)



early letters to Fred including one written during his enforced convalescence (allegedly for tuberculosis) at Uppark with his mother in 1887, in which he lists the kind offers of friends to support him following his resignation from teaching, and begins to discuss "The great Problem under discussion at up Park, between myself & mother just now...that curious phenomenon known as Daddy...", another early letter (21 July 1887) disagreeing with his brother's stated recipe that patience and steady perseverance are all that is required for success ("...you seem to forget that without intelligent direction there are no things upon earth more easily wasted than the energies & years of a man..."); his letter to his mother (c. autumn 1891) announcing the date of his marriage to his cousin Isabel Mary Wells, asking her not to say anything to "Miss F except to tell her the date when it is near...", discussing a possible present ("...I would much rather have some pretty bit of your old China..."), the newly-weds' future proximty to his brother Fred ("...we shall be two hours cycling from Fred..."), incorporating several typical Wells drawings (including his and Isabel's new future home at 28 Haldon Road, Putney) and making detailed arrangements to meet his mother off the train on the wedding day ("...You must come up the day before---change at Wimbledon as I told you..."); numerous letters to Fred discussing financial affairs, one early one asking Fred for a loan for a building project, but most –particularly latterly -- chiefly discussing H.G.'s improved finances and Fred and his family's  varying fortunes after their  emigration to South Africa in 1902 ("...I don't want to see you back here & no better off than when you went out. South Africa is the place in which you will find prosperity  if you find it at all...",  "I should like to send you £2000, because I keenly sympathetic...and I believe in your family...", "...it's a great delight to me to think of you getting ahead of things and and...turning the old poverty of the family into prosperity.." ); sending Fred joyful news of  the births of his children ("...so your dear little Damsey is Grandmamma and the Busswhacker [i.e. Wells] is as proud & happy as though no one had ever succeeded in being a father before...", 17 July 1901; "Dear Fred. Got another little son. H.G....": 31 October, no year), several letters proudly discussing his work as he becomes a published author ("..."By the time this reaches you my first book will be out in all the bookstalls...", "....I've got three books in the press with three different publishers...Also I've got a serial story running through The New Review...", "My book before the last the Tales of Space & Time was hurt of course by the war, but Love & Mr Lewisham...has been an all round success...") and his happy family life ("...the boys turn out little dears & learn no end of things & the sun shines & there are endless friends..."), informing his brother of numerous deaths in the family including that of their own mother ("...Mother died very peacefully yesterday afternoon & she is lying upstairs looking very calm & peaceful, with a curious little self-satisfied expression on her dear old face as though she was a little child who has said & finished her lesson...", 13 June 1905), their father five years later (15 October 1910, a far more detached and cooler account), their brother Frank and – at a tragically young age – that of their young cousins Lillie and Gracie within  few weeks of each other ("...It is an awful thing, this consumption. There is no haste, ho pause, no pity...People shudder at the conception of Frankenstein but here is a demon raised by our sins unspeakably more dreadful..."), describing in some detail his own serious setbacks in health and ensuing recoveries ("...Tremendously well in health, cycling again & bathing in the sea every day..."), letters from the First World War including a visit to the Italian trenches and front, the later letters reflecting his dramatically increased prosperity ("...Dear little Freddy, I've sold this place [Easton Glebe, Dunmow]. I live so much in France & London now that I have no more use for it. Both the boys have homes of their own & it stands empty except for the servants half the time...": 1 July 1930, three years after the death of his wife Catherine, or "Jane"),  the letters of old age retaining strong brotherly affection with Wells' frequently inviting Freddie and his family to stay in Regent's Park, several later ones discussing the Second World War ("...The war goes well  as far as Europe is concerned but there is a big cloud of darkness over Asia. I want to live long enough to see the cloud lift but I am afraid I shall not. Life is a story that never ends, but we do, just when we want to know what there will be on the next page...": 17 May 1943), Wells reassuring his brother that the destruction caused by the doodlebugs is small compared to the 'Blitz' of 1941/2 whilst simultaneously conveying his anxieties about the location and safety of his niece Jean (he suggests she uses his home as her temporary headquarters, and also comments on her own literary qualities: "Jean soars into quite poetical prose in her description of England under snow..."), three letters to Jean herself  (one informing her that she did not get the part of the little girl in the adaptation of his book The Shape of Things to Come); one letter written from Chalet Soleil, Montana sur Sierre, Switzerland, the home of his lover Elizabeth von Arnim ("...Just a few snapshots & fraternal greetings..I am staying here with a friend..."); together with: first editions of The Passionate Friends (1913, inscribed by Wells to his cousin Ruth) and Joan and Peter (1918, also inscribed to Ruth), in original cloth, both works heavily worn; several early black and white photographs (of Wells and his and his brother's families, at Easton Glebe and elsewhere); an early experiment by Wells' mother using a typewriter (charmingly illustrated by Wells); a typed letter apparently by his housekeeper inviting his brother and family to stay in Wells' house in Regent's Park at the time of the Coronation in 1937 ("...H.G. will be going out of London...because it doesn't appeal to him much..."); the announcement of the award of Honours to Wells and other graduates (London University Correspondence College, 19 October 1892); further printed ephemera; and a further signed ink drawing of Wells on his rocking horse, sent to his niece Jean ("...H on his Gee...")

Provenance: Frederick Joseph Wells and his family; thence by descent

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A very significant addition to the correspondence between H.G. Wells and his older brother Fred: almost certainly the most important collection of H.G. Wells letters to be offered for sale at auction for several decades. Joseph Frederick Wells (1862-1954) was originally, like his brothers, apprenticed out as a draper, working at Bromley and Wokingham before emigrating to South Africa in 1902. A striking feature of the present letters is that fact that although H.G. Wells was the youngest brother, he in effect played the role of the "head of the family", often during periods of financial hardship and insecurity suffered by his parents and siblings.  Over 90 separate letters by Wells to Fred, now chiefly residing at the University of Illinois and HRC, Texas, are published in David Smith's edition of The Correspondence of H.G. Wells (4 volumes, Pickering & Chatto, 1998). The present series, however, is unpublished.