Queen Mary I Signed Letter Leads Huge Foyle Library Auction

More than 10,000 books and other items from the library of the late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey in Essex will go under the hammer at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in September 2023 and January 2024 sales.

The collection includes items of national and international significance which were not part of the famous Christie's sale of The Library of William Foyle held in July 2000. 

Christopher Foyle, entrepreneur, philanthropist and moderniser of Foyle's famous bookshop in London's Charing Cross Road, died in August 2022. He was the grandson of William Foyle, the bookshop's founder. When his aunt Christina died in 1999 and left instructions that her grandfather's library should be sold, Christopher and his wife Cathy took the decision to buy back as much of the library as they could before it went up for sale. Christopher was particularly keen to recover items which had a close association with his beloved grandfather. 

The items now offered for sale from Beeleigh Abbey comprise:

• the thousands of books, manuscripts and other items which Christopher bought back from his 
  aunt's estate
• books from Beeleigh Abbey Books, Foyle's Bookshop rare and antiquarian book business, which was managed from the Abbey
• books added to the collection by Christopher in his lifetime particularly reflecting his interests in aviation, travel and archaeology 
• items which have been rediscovered at Beeleigh since Christopher's death including a collection of early 20th century books, signed by their authors and dedicated to William Foyle 

The majority of the items offered for sale will be books, most beautifully bound with the bookplate of William Foyle, including hundreds of early editions of English literature, history, topography and travel. The collection also includes miniature books, illuminated medieval and rare Tudor manuscripts, seals, and authors' letters, as well as significant paintings and drawings. Christopher continued to collect books up until his death, some of which never made it into the main library and were discovered squirreled away in cupboards and under a vast model railway layout. 

The highlight from the first portion of the library to be offered for sale on September 27 2023 (Part Two will be offered for sale on January 31, 2024) is an historically important document signed at the head by Queen Mary I (estimate: £15,000-£20,000). It is an appeal for reinforcements to be raised for the defence of Calais, signed 'Marye the Quene' on the day on which the city fell to the French.