It was sold as part of The Library Sale
12/05/2026 Books & Maps
A candid 18th-century letter in which Horace Walpole dismisses the Palace of Versailles as “very expensive, tawdry and childish” has sold for £8,000 at Cheffins in Cambridge, alongside three other letters forming part of the same lot.
The letter, written on 19 May 1739 to his father, Sir Robert Walpole, offers a critical account of one of Europe’s most celebrated royal residences. It went under the hammer at Cheffins’ Library Sale on 16 April, attracting strong interest from collectors.
In the correspondence, Walpole recounts his visit to the Palace of Versailles, where he attended a ceremonial installation of knights. He writes: “I never was so disappointed in seeing the Palace and gardens; there is no manner of taste in either, but the whole is very expensive, tawdry and childish.” He continues his letter by claiming that the works he saw by Raphael fell short of his expectations, “I saw the two famous pictures of Raphael, the St Michale and the Holy Family; the first is far from answering the idea I conceived of Raphael, & the latter, tho much the better of the two, is inferior to Pictures I have seen both here and in England.”
The letter was inserted into a nine-volume set of The Letters of Horace Walpole, edited by Peter Cunningham, published 1857–59. The original letters were part of a wider collection of Walpole related book lots, which had formerly been part of the library at Wolterton Hall in Norfolk, an ancestral home of the Walpole family. The UK buyer was competing amongst many others, both from home and abroad.
Further insight into Walpole’s personality emerged in the additional letters included in the same lot, with vivid references to Strawberry Hill House. In one, he humorously laments the fate of architectural fragments intended for his Gothic villa, revealing both his wit and obsessive eye for detail. It reads: “I weep over the ruined kitchen, but enjoy the tiles. They are exactly like a few which I obtained from the Cathedral of Gloucester, when it was new paved; they are inlaid in the floor of my china room: I would have got enough to pave it, but the canons, who were flinging them away, had so much devotion left, that they enjoyned me not to have a pagoda with them nor put them to any profane use.”
Charles Ashton, Director at Cheffins, said: “Horace Walpole is celebrated not only as a politician but as a defining tastemaker of the 18th century. His creation of Strawberry Hill House and writing of The Castle of Otranto helped shape the Gothic Revival. These letters illustrate just how engaged he was with art and architecture, as well as his wit and humour.”
The sale also featured a substantial collection of Sir Robert Walpole related material linked to his political career, spanning 142 volumes of parliamentary reports and speeches, satirical works and others which sold for £8,000, against an estimate of £6000-8000. Meanwhile, a rare 1735 architectural folio documenting Houghton Hall, the home of Sir Robert Walpole, sold for £1,400 to another domestic bidder.
Ashton added: “Material connected to the Walpole family continues to resonate strongly with collectors. As pioneers of the Grand Tour and one of the most influential families of the 18th century, their legacy bridges politics, art and culture. The strength of bidding reflects continued confidence in the rare book market, with more than 600 bidders taking part at the sale, with over 50 of them entirely new clients.”
In total, the Walpole collection achieved £41,400.
Auction: The Library Sale – 16th April 2026
Location: Cheffins, Clifton House, 1-2 Clifton Road, Cambridge, UK, CB1 7EA
For further information contact the Fine Art Department on 01223 213343, [email protected]