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43 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS,MANUSCRIPTS &SIGNED PHOTOS<br />
318. MAXIMILIAN II (1811-1864, from 1848 King of<br />
Bavaria)<br />
Fine letter inItalian with translation, signed, to Teodolfo<br />
Mertel, (1806-1899, Cardinal from 1858), thanking him for<br />
his good wishes “on the return of the Holy Feast of the<br />
Nativity”, wishing him in return “the most complete<br />
prosperity”, and asking him to be persuaded of his “perfect<br />
esteem”, 1 side folio and conjugate blank, Munich, 31st<br />
January 1864 [SD14433]£325<br />
While still crown prince, Maximilian rebuilt Schloss<br />
Hohenschwangau in the mountains and made it a centre for artists<br />
and men of learning. Coming to the throne in the eventful year of<br />
1848, he sought a middle way for Germany between the rivalry of<br />
Austria and Prussia, and granted Bavaria a constitution in 1859.<br />
He continued to invite scientists such as Liebig to Munich,<br />
regardless of their religious views, in spite of criticism from the<br />
ultramontane party. This letter was signed a few weeks before he<br />
died on 10th March.<br />
Cardinal Mertel, born at Allumiere, Civitavecchia, was vicechancellor<br />
(the highest legal post) of the Roman Church, from<br />
1884.<br />
319. MICHAEL (Grand Duke, 1878-1918, Tsar 28th-29th<br />
March 1917, Youngest Brother of Nicholas II, Tsar 1894-<br />
1917)<br />
ALS ‘Misha’ to his brother Grand Duke GEORGE ,<br />
1871-1899, in Russian with translation, hoping that “we<br />
shall see each other very soon. I am very very glad you are<br />
recovered ... here in Gatchino everything is starting to turn<br />
green. On the 6th May I was given a marvellous kayak like<br />
Nikin’s, I went shooting twice and killed only 9 grouse”, he<br />
is “sending you a prehistoric axe I made myself, nobody<br />
helped me, I thought of it all on my own”, ruled in pencil, at<br />
the end is asketch ofasailing boat ,figures on the shore<br />
and cliff top are shouting “Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”, 4<br />
sides 8vo., red crowned monogram ‘M[ikhail]<br />
A[lexandrovich]’, Gatchino, n.d., c. 1890 [SD19426]£675<br />
Michael enjoyed country life and his animals; he was a good shot,<br />
proud and obstinate. George had started in the Navy but went<br />
down with tuberculosis. He spent summers at Abas Tuman in the<br />
Caucasus, opposite the Crimea, and went to Algeria in the winter.<br />
Michael became heir to the throne after George died in 1899, till<br />
the Tsesarevich Alexei was born in 1904. Nicholas II abdicated<br />
for himself and his son on 28th March 1917, but Michael refused<br />
to ascend the throne without the will of the people and himself<br />
renounced the throne on 29th March. He was killed by the<br />
Bolsheviks at Perm about 28th July 1918.<br />
320. MICHAEL MIKHAILOVITCH (Grand Duke,<br />
1832-1909, Field Marshal, son of Tsar Nicholas I, brother<br />
of Tsar Alexander II)<br />
Fantastic original cabinet photo by Ch. Bergamasco in St<br />
Petersbourg, signed and dated, showing him head and<br />
shoulders, in original Imperial presentation frame , in an<br />
opulent design of pillars and arches, made out of an ivory<br />
style material, 10” x 7½”, 1893 [SD22215]£1,500<br />
These magnificent presentation frames superceded the ivory ones<br />
used 50 years before, when Alexander III came to the throne and<br />
decided that presentation frames should not be as expensive as<br />
they had been before. These are very early examples.<br />
321. METHUEN (Paul Sanford, 1845-1932, Field<br />
Marshal, Commander in Chief in South Africa, 3rd Baron)<br />
ALS to‘My dear Ralph’ telling him that he is “now signing<br />
the District Order to say you retire - goodbye, old chap, it<br />
hasbeen a long, and on the whole, a happy 19 years, that we<br />
have had and I dont know a dearer pal than you have been<br />
to me, or I would not write this note”, 1 side 8vo., Horse<br />
Guards, Whitehall, S.W., 20th June 1883 [SD15118]£45<br />
322. MILITZA (MILICA) (1880-1946, née Duchess<br />
Jutta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of Danilo II, Crown<br />
Prince and, for 6 days, King-in-Exile of Montenegro)<br />
ALS inEnglish to Mrs. Carminati, saying that “the Prince<br />
has just come back from Bordighera where he went to see<br />
Queen Margherita”, mother of Vittorio Emmanuele III, and<br />
San Remo “to inquire if there any parcels for us” without<br />
success, including “the box with music belonging to M.<br />
Gnechi”, she writes so that M. Gnechi “can make inquiries<br />
at the station”, they are looking forward to hearing Mlle.<br />
Amstedt sing at MonteCarloinJanuary, at the moment “not<br />
feeling well” from winter ailments she writes “in haste”<br />
with “best love”, crowned ‘M’ in heading, 3 sides 8vo., Cap<br />
Martin, 19th December 1920 [SD50255]£125<br />
The Princess’ father-in-law, Nikola I, was deposed on 26th<br />
November 1918 and the following year the elected government<br />
chose to unite Montenegro with the new Yugoslavia. With his<br />
German wife, Danilo had felt uncomfortable about opposing<br />
Austria during the War, and shortly after Nikola I’s death in 1921<br />
abdicated his rights to his nephew Michael.<br />
323. MONTGOMERY (Viscount of Alamein, Bernard<br />
Law, 1887-1976, Field Marshal)<br />
Printed pamphlet, “Conferment of the Honorary Freedom of<br />
the Borough of Douglas upon Field Marshal the Viscount<br />
Montgomery ...”, signed on the front, with a biography and<br />
photo of the Field Marshal and the Order of Ceremony, 5<br />
pages 8vo., Douglas, 13th May 1948 [SD26578]£125<br />
324. MOORE (Maj.-Gen. Sir J. Jeremy, b. 1928, MC,<br />
Commander of Land Forces in the Falklands, May-July<br />
1982, Colonel Commandant RM)<br />
ALS toPeter Evans, talking about the war in the South<br />
Atlantic, “I am not a historian ... I suspect we are too close<br />
to the event”, but “there are principles for which it is right -<br />
indeed essential - that we stand up and, if necessary, fight ...<br />
The main memory ... is that it was, as always, squalid,<br />
bloody and awful, but that good men are capable of rising<br />
above this”, together with his photograph signed ,5½”x<br />
4”, and a magazine copy of Robert Taylor’s print ‘South<br />
Atlantic Task Force’, 2 sides folio, Wiltshire, 9th December<br />
1985 [SD50041]£75<br />
325. MORLEY (John, 1838-1923, O.M., Journalist and<br />
Radical Politician, Secretary for India 1905-1910, from<br />
1908 1st Viscount)<br />
ALS to‘My dear Sir’, saying “I am much obliged to you for<br />
consenting to take this extra trouble ... as Xmas hurries us<br />
... No, I can’t tell you who printed the things you speak of.<br />
Ld. Houghton gave them to me as something curious”, 1<br />
side 8vo., n.p., 14th December 1873, a little foxed at fold<br />
[SD19277]£30
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