Richard's surviving letters

Marie wrote: "Actually my impression, reading through
Richard's surviving letters, is that he had an
irrepressible if rather dry sense of humor."

***

Is there a "Collected Letters of Richard III" in
modern English?

I've missed the humor in the examples of his letters
that I've seen. No doubt my sense of humor is very
different from his. I'd appreciate any humor to be
found in his difficult life.

Marion




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--- In , marion davis
<phaecilia@y...> wrote:
> Marie wrote: "Actually my impression, reading through
> Richard's surviving letters, is that he had an
> irrepressible if rather dry sense of humor."
>
> ***
>
> Is there a "Collected Letters of Richard III" in
> modern English?

Not so far as I know. A lot are reproduced in Kendall's biography. I
particularly like the letter to Louis XI.
>
> I've missed the humor in the examples of his letters
> that I've seen. No doubt my sense of humor is very
> different from his. I'd appreciate any humor to be
> found in his difficult life.
>
> Marion

>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
> http://webhosting.yahoo.com

Me, too, Marie. He mimics Louis' "style" wonderfully.
Both monarchs' letters are repro'd in the Harley MS 433 collection.

The letter regarding Jane Shore and Thos. Lynom
is also a goodie when read through properly - Richard
is clearly amused by the idea of his Solicitor falling for
the ladies' charms ("marvellously blinded" being how he puts
it). Alas - this missive's another of those examples, like
Rivers' "Fortunes's Wheel", that often get edited down so much in
contemporary biogs that the original sense gets completely lost.

And I particularly like his earnest IOU to Sir John Say written when
he was 16 or 17 and caught on the hop by Edward's order to travel
north, and the patience and politeness he shows in his letter
regarding York's fishgarth's problem, written when he was under
pressure during the Protectorate, myself.

Marion: other places to find his actual words, as opposed to what
other people *think* he said, can be found in the various collections
from the York House Books (Attreed's is the most up-to-date one, and
the 2 vol set is about £30 IIRC), and the aforementioned Harleian MS
433 collection, of course (4 vols, £60-ish).

Lorraine

<Marie wrote: "Actually my impression, reading through
> > Richard's surviving letters, is that he had an
> > irrepressible if rather dry sense of humor."
> >
> > ***
> >
> > Is there a "Collected Letters of Richard III" in
> > modern English?
>
> Not so far as I know. A lot are reproduced in Kendall's biography.
I particularly like the letter to Louis XI.