Mar 07, 2024 - Sale 2661

Sale 2661 - Lot 48

Price Realized: $ 5,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
"IF YOU HAVE A TRACE OF . . . DUTY, YOU SLAVE UNTIL YOU DROP" NOBEL, ALFRED. Autograph Letter Signed, "Alfred," to his brother Robert, in Swedish, explaining that the delayed response is due to his slavish commitment to duty, thanking for sending photographs of his son Hjalmar, remarking that Hjalmar seems happiest of the Nobels, speculating that happiness is the greatest virtue, wondering whether the telegram got through to him because there was no listing for Åby [village in Norrköping, Sweden], explaining that he could not go to Saint Petersburg due to illness and commitments relating to business in Baku [Azerbaijan], considering discontinuing relationship with Berlin banking firm Disconto-Gesellschaft, and remarking that the largest market for selling the shares would be in Russia. 4 pages, small 8vo, written on a folded sheet; horizontal fold. Semmering, 30 June 1889
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". . . I'm too much of a philosopher to consider anything to be really imposing, but you get into a certain circle of influence and if you have a trace of the twisted quality of duty, you slave until you drop.
"Thanks for the photographs of [Robert's son] Hjalmar. The sun has not flattered him: his own appearance is, as I remember it, yet another whole degree . . . more beautiful and graceful. He is also, I think, the only one truly happy among the Nobels, and in my eyes, it is the highest among virtues, even though it often leads to vice . . . .
"As to your telegram, I was at a loss as to how to address the reply. Åby, as a telegraph address, is not listed here . . . . Hope it came out anyway. You ask if I am traveling to Petersburg. . . . [L]ately I have been incredibly tired and by no means in satisfactory health. I've even started taking medication, which I loathe and which I don't resort to without . . . good reasons. If I felt healthy enough for that, I would certainly have gone. But [my] presence would be needed to get the Baku actions ready to go . . . . Disconto Ges[ellschaf]t in Berlin . . . are overly cautious and I assume that one could become independent from them. The biggest market for these shares will certainly be in Russia, but capital increases will hardly exceed . . . 8% dividend. . . ."