RARE items discovered in the library of country house are to go under the hammer, including an autograph of King William III and the first recognition of the US as a sovereign nation.

The contents of the library of Ombersley Court, family seat of the Sandys family for 400 years, are due up for auction by Chorley's auctioneers next month.

Amongst three volumes of 18th century ephemera Chorley’s discovered a very rare early printing of the Provisional Articles of the Treaty of Paris.

RARE: A signed Autograph letter by King William III of England (1689-1702), to Henry Viscount Sydney (1641-1704) with the King’s instructions to form a regiment in Ireland. Estimate £700-£1,000RARE: A signed Autograph letter by King William III of England (1689-1702), to Henry Viscount Sydney (1641-1704) with the King’s instructions to form a regiment in Ireland. Estimate £700-£1,000 (Image: Chorley's Auctioneers)

Signed in type at the end by British commissioner Richard Oswald and American commissioners John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens.

This provisional agreement is the first document in which Britain recognised the United States as a sovereign nation.

The Definitive Treaty of Peace, incorporating the nine articles printed here, was later signed at Paris on September 3, 1783.

The volume carries an estimate of between £10,000 and £15,000.

FIND: particularly good copy of a very rare early printing of the Provisional Articles of the Treaty of Paris with an estimate of £10,000 to £15,000FIND: particularly good copy of a very rare early printing of the Provisional Articles of the Treaty of Paris with an estimate of £10,000 to £15,000 (Image: Chorley's Auctioneers)

Chorley’s auctioneers has been appointed to sell the library with rare and never-before-seen books, manuscripts and letters being offered for auction for the first time in decades on September 17, 2024.

Proceeds of the sale will be donated to the Hartlebury Castle Preservation Trust.

The Ombersley Court library, which has been largely untouched since the early 19th century, contains some of the greatest works and authors of the previous two centuries.

Chorley’s director Werner Freundel said: “Rarely does such a comprehensive library come for auction, especially one of such historical significance and one that has remained private and unseen outside a limited circle.”

FIRST: A First English edition of a work titled The Necromancer, or The Tale of the Black Forest by the German author of gothic fiction, Karl Friedrich Kahlert (1765-1813). Estimate £2,000-£3,00FIRST: A First English edition of a work titled The Necromancer, or The Tale of the Black Forest by the German author of gothic fiction, Karl Friedrich Kahlert (1765-1813). Estimate £2,000-£3,00 (Image: Chorley's auctioneers)

Edwin, 2nd Baron Sandys (1726-1797) was a noted classical scholar, having studied at Oxford, which explains the broad number of Greek and Latin volumes in the collection.  

Edwin famously hosted Dr Johnson at Ombersley Court in 1774, where Johnson is quoted as saying: “We came to Lord Sandys at Ombersley, where we were treated with great civility. The house is large. The hall is a very noble room.”

 

HISTORIC: Ombersley Court  (Image: Chorley's)

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A signed autograph letter by King William III of England (1689-1702) to English army officer, peer and politician Henry Viscount Sydney (1641-1704), details the King’s instructions to form a regiment in Ireland (8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars).