SARAH PONSONBY (1755 1831) Autograph Letter Signed El Butle

Sale 2514 - Lot 2

Price Realized: $ 281

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400

THE LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN SARAH PONSONBY (1755-1831)

Autograph Letter Signed, "El. Butler & Sarah Ponsonby,"

apologizing for delaying a guest who is to visit her, and informing her to expect that the visitor will be bringing a Christmas gift from them [probably a goose]. 2 pages, 8vo, with integral blank; faint scattered staining, folds. [Llangollen], 4 January 1826.

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Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831) and Eleanor Charlotte Butler (1739-1829) were friends from aristocratic Anglo-Irish families who escaped arranged marriages by twice running away together in 1778, once dressed in men's clothing to avoid being identified. Later that year, when it became clear how deeply determined they were to be together, their families agreed to let them follow their dreams, and the couple settled in Llangollen, Wales, where they lived in a house together for almost fifty years. Among the houseguests of the "Ladies of Llangollen" were the Duke of Wellington and Josiah Wedgwood, as well as several writers, including Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, Anna Seward, Percy Shelley, Robert Southey, and William Wordsworth.