Autograph letter signed (ALS) "AT THIS TIME OF YEAR OF COURSE SKETCHING OUT OF DOORS IS APT TO BE TOO DIFFICULT AND COLD": AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY VANESSA BELL

Firle, East Sussex: Vanessa Bell, 1947. First Edition. First Edition. Signed by Author. One leaf of stationery, measuring 6-3/4 by 8 inches, writing on the recto.
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Autograph letter signed by artist Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf's sister, mentioning her partner, the artist Duncan Grant.

The letter, on stationery with the blindstamp of Charleston, Firle, Sussex, reads in full: "Nov 6, 1947.
"Dear Miss Guerny, Thank you very much for sending me the papers about the anglo french centre. I hope to visit some day though I do not very often get to London now. Please thank Ms. Alford (I hope I have the name right) for the letters to me and Duncan Grant. He will answer when he can but at present is having a rather difficult and anxious time as his mother is very old and seriously ill and he has to go and see her at Twickenham quite often. Later I hope, he may be able to arrange something. At this time of year of course sketching out of doors is apt to be too difficult and cold and the extra darkness makes one feel as if one had very little time for any kind of painting, but I wish I could for the countryside in Autumn is at its most beautiful. With many thanks to you for your letters, yours sincerely, Vanessa Bell."

Although married to the writer and critic Clive Bell, Vanessa Bell maintained a relationship with the artist Duncan Grant for decades, sharing the farmhouse of Charleston in the village of Firle; Grant fathered Bell's daughter Angelica (who was raised as Clive Bell's daughter). The couple remained together until Vanessa Bell's death in 1961.

Expected fold lines. Fine condition.