AUTOGRAPH LETTERS OF CARLYLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3911, 26 February 1929, Page 48

AUTOGRAPH LETTERS OF CARLYLE.

GIFT TO SCOTTISH NATIONAL

LIBRARY.

(Fe.om Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, December 21

The trustees of the National Library of Scotland have received the magnificent gift of over 700 autograph letters of Ihomas Carlyle. The donor of this unique collection is Miss Margaret Carlyle Aitken, daughter of Carlyle’s sister Jean.

Miss Aitken, yvhose home is in Dumfries, and who is now 84 years of age, takes a keen interest in the fame of her distinguished uncle. When making the gift she expressed satisfaction that tilts letters yvould noyv be permanently preserved as c national possession. The fact that many of them are addressed to her mother adds to the significance of the gift. It was to Mrs Aitken’s daughters that Carlyle turned for help after his yvife’s death. Miss Mary Aitken, the donor's sister, yvent to keep house for her uncle at Cheyne Row. There Miss Margaret Aitken was a frequent visitor, and she has many reminiscences of the distinguished visitors to that house.

The letters are arranged chronologically, covering the years fom 1821 to 1869. Six hundred and sixty-seven are dated, 14 are undated, and 62 ar.e imperfect. The largest number for any one year is 67, witten during 1851. There are also some interesting drafts of letters in Carlyle’s handyvriting, a galley proof of “ The History of Frederick the Great, yvith the author’s corrections, a manuscript page of “ Past and Present,” one of his 'bookplates, and various odd notes and scraps of yvriting. The letters may be described as Carlyle’s “ Familiar Letters,” written to the various members of his family.