SOLD. Famous letter from Peter the Great: Autograph letter written in invisible ink signed by tzar "Pieter". Riga 1697.

845/206

Peter the Great (b. Moscow 1672, d. St. Petersburg 1725)

Autograph double-letter signed by “Pieter” (1672–1725) [Tsar Peter the Great] for [Andrey Andreevich] Vinius. 2 leaves. Folio. Dated Riga, April 8 [1697]. First leaf addressed to Vinius is written in ink, in clear Russian. Second leaf is written in invisible ink and has later been treated with contemporary liquid chemicals and flames to make the writing visible. On a long strip mounted to the invisible letter the Tsar has written a clear instruction for the receiver, Vinius, to indicate that the enclosed invisible letter, probably to general Ivanovich, is enclosed and has to be deciphered.

First leaf annotated “#23” in upper right corner. Second leaf with a cut that causes minor lack of text, but no loss of meaning. Both sheets are expertly repaired and preserved and each sheet framed, both with double museum glass. All housed in modern, special designed cloth box of birch by conservator Per M. Laursen, Humlebæk, Denmark.

Enclosed letter by professor Hans Bagger from the institute of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of Copenhagen. Dated 1990. The letter contains Hans Bagger's expert analysis which establishes that the letter is of the greatest importance, historically, philologically and in a broad antiquarian sense. + Typewritten transcription by Hans Bagger and one of his colleagues of the Russian wording of the letter in an up-to-date Russian typography.

Further information and/or transcription/translation in Russian, English and Danish available upon request.

This important signed letter is written under Peter the Great's great journey to Europe and is one of the most important contemporary sources to his stay in Riga in 1697. In March 1697 he travelled incognito to Western Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation of 250 people - the so-called “Grand Embassy” - only few members of the delegacy knew about his real identity. During Easter the delegation visited the Swedish city of Riga. The Swedish governor in Riga was no less than Eric Dahlbergh (1625–1703) who later became a national arch-enemy of the state of Denmark and a key operative in the Great Northern war.

The Riga-letter is not only famous for its unique documentation from quite a unique event in world history. The fact that the ruler of a great empire - Peter the Great - gave up power for a longer period and travelled abroad to get acquainted with a completely different culture than his own had never been seen before. This uniqe and important document tells us about this journey and contains the main source of information about Peter's impressions from his stay in Riga. It documents and describes his spying on western countries and his use and exchange of secret information important to the state of Russia - both military information about Riga and also the rumours about the Swedish king Carl XII's political ambitions.

Reference: “Pis'ma i bumagi imperatora Petra Velikogo”, Vol. I, No. 149, p. 145–46, Moscow 1887. + Reinhard Wittram: Peter I. Czar und Kaiser - Zur Geschichte Peters des Grossen in seiner Zeit, Göttigen 1964, pp. 136–142. + M.M. Bogoslovskij: Petr I: Materialy dlja biografii pod red. Vol. II, Moscow 1940, p. 18.

Provenance: The letter was bought in 1977 through the late Hans Bagger, manager of the former Danish antiquarian “Rosenkilde og Bagger” (notably not the historian from University of Copenhagen mentioned earlier) and it has belonged to the same Danish collector since then.

Condition

Ligger i våben boxen, i Havnen. MAR

Auction

Russian art & antiques, 27 November 2013