Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2006 Issue
Letters and Signatures from Lion Heart Autographs
Mata Hari was not dressed in her exotic dancer's outfit when she posed for this 1906 photograph.
In a letter to a councilor, the French King Louis XIV wrote (translated from the French), "How much am I obliged to divine providence for the protection given my army and to the glory it experienced and which it received. I desire along with all my subjects to be always worthy of His assistance and to finally obtain a satisfactory peace." Not bad writing for a six-year-old. Louis ascended to the French throne at the ripe age of four, but it would be almost twenty more years before he assumed control. One can't help but suspect that this letter was ghostwritten on his behalf, though it does bear his youthful signature. The letter was written after some battlefield successes during the seemingly endless wars that went on in Europe for centuries. Louis XIV would rule for 72 years, and outlive his children and grandchildren, regency passing all the way to a great-grandson on his death. Item 56 is this 1645 youthfully signed letter. $2,500.
She was the most famous exotic dancer the French ever knew. Margaretha McLeod, recently divorced from an abusive husband, emigrated from Holland to France in 1904. Poor and alone, she reinvented herself as an exotic Javanese dancer. Within a year, Mata Hari, as she renamed herself, was the rage of Paris. She became a great celebrity with fans following her to venues all across Europe where she danced. She was at the top of her game in 1906 when she signed item 57, a picture of herself demurely posed. She signed it with both names, Greta McLeod and Mata Hari. A decade later, things would not go so well for Mata Hari. She was known to be involved with many men, and supposedly this led to her being convinced to become a German spy during the First World War. Intercepted messages are supposed to have shown her guilt, but there remains much question whether she was actually an innocent set up by a government looking for scapegoats. In 1917, Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad, her severed head and body sent to the Museum of Anatomy. Somewhere along the way, both parts of her disappeared, and no one knows where they are today. Fortunately, her picture survives, and you can buy it. $3,500.
You will find many more fascinating letters and signed items in Lion Heart Autographs' Catalogue 44. The Park Avenue South, New York, autograph dealer may be found online at www.lionheartautographs.com, telephone 212-779-7050.
