Historic letter of Mahatma to come under the hammer

London, June 4 (UNI) A letter written by Mahatma Gandhi, 19 days before his assassination, will be auctioned by Christie's in London on July 3.

The letter was written for 'Harijan' on January 11, 1948. It will come under the hammer as part of the most comprehensive collection of handwritten letters to be seen on the market for a generation.

The collection is titled 'The Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters', a personal and private collection assembled over a period of 30 years by late Albin Schram.

In the historic letter, the Mahatma expresses regret for having to discontinue the Urdu edition of his paper 'Harijan' owing to dwindling readership.

''The dwindle was to me a sign of resentment against its publication... My view remains unalterable especially at this critical juncture in our history. It is wrong to ruffle Muslim or any other person's feeling when there is no question of ethics,'' he wrote.

Advocating the importance of Urdu, Gandhiji asserted that the language has multiple uses including, shorthand and transcription of Sanskrit verses.

Warning against any boycott of the language, against a backdrop of communal tensions, the Mahatma wrote, ''Any suggestion of a boycott on Urdu script is a wanton affront upon the Muslims of the Union who in the eyes of many Hindus have become aliens in their own land. This is copying the bad manners of Pakistan with a vengeance.'' The letter ends with a ringing call to ''Muslim friends'' not only to support the Urdu edition but to learn the Nagari script and thus ''enrich their intellectual capital''.

The collection includes 570 lots of handwritten manuscripts by many of the most notable figures of European history from the 13th to the 20th centuries including Lord Byron, Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth I, Sigmund Freud, Gandhi, Napoleon, Sir Isaac Newton, Oliver Cromwell, Claude Monet, Oscar Wilde and Charlotte Bronte.

The auction will be offered through five sections; History, Literature, Art, Science and Philosophy and Music and Theatre.

The sale is expected to fetch in the region of 2 million pounds with individual estimates ranging from 500 to 1,20,000 pounds.

Gandhiji's letter will be part of the history section. It is currently estimated to fetch 9,000-12,000 pounds.

Other letters in this section include an exceptionally rare and early love letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) to Josephine, Viscomtesse de Beauharnais, his future wife. One of only three known correspondences addressed from Napoleon to Josephine before they were married after a passionate affair of just three months, the letter is expected to realise 30,000-50,000 pounds.

A letter by the hand of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) dated June 17, 1650 in which he denies any personal ambition is expected to realise 10,000-15,000 pounds. Another highlight of this section is a letter in French from Elizabeth I (1533-1603) to Henry IV of France, in which the Queen acts with great diplomacy towards the King having granted the French ambassador to England permission to extend his stay by two months.

Thought to have been written in the 1590s, after the defeat of the Spanish Armada and while England, France and the Dutch Republic were collectively fighting the Spanish, the letter is expected to realise 12,000-18,000 pounds.

Further highlights of this section include a rare early letter from the 16-year-old Winston Churchill (1874-1965) to his mother in which he claims, ''I am getting on alright and am learning lots every day.'' The letter is expected to fetch 10,000- 15,000 pounds.

An unpublished manuscript by Jean Calvin (1509-1564) offers a glimpse at the influential reformer's compassionate side following the attempted suicide of a subject. It is estimated to rake in 15,000-20,000 pounds.

UNI