This week's New Yorker features a fascinating article by Rebecca Mead on the recently rediscovered letters from Edith Wharton to her governess and companion Anna Bahlmann. As has been mentioned previously, these letters, as well as other items including objects, photographs and ephemera, are being auctioned at Christie's on Wednesday. A few Mounties were fortunate enough to be allowed "backstage" at Christie's to have a brief look at the collection, and it is a wonderful treasure, and should prove an enormous boon to Wharton scholarship. Rebecca Mead's article concentrates on the earliest correspondence, most of which comes from a time when no other letters from Edith Wharton are known to exist. We look forward to the auction, and hope that the collection finds an appropriate home, a place where access can be made for the many Whartonians who are waiting in line to delve into this amazing archive. For more information on the collection visit Christie's.
