Gladstone bag
Category
Leatherwork
Date
1930 - 1952
Materials
Brass, Leather, Paper, Textile
Measurements
235 x 380 x 285 mm
Order this imageCollection
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent
NT 802767
Caption
This bag contained a manuscript by Vita Sackville-West giving an account of her love affair with Violet Trefusis (nee Keppel). The bag had been locked in the corner cupboard over Vita’s desk in her Writing Room in the Tower at Sissinghurst. After her death in 1962 Vita’s son Nigel slashed open the locked bag and discovered the manuscript which, along with his own writing, became the book ‘Portrait of a Marriage’.
Summary
Dark-green or black leather Gladstone bag embossed with the letters 'VN' with a brass lock and baggage label 'V.M. Nicolson 1952'. The material slashed along the top with the lining material visible.
Provenance
The contents of the Tower Sitting Room were accepted on 30 May 2007 by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax arising in connection with the death of Nigel Nicolson on 23 September 2004. The contents of the Sitting Room had been on loan to the National Trust since the donation of Sissinghurst to the Trust by Nigel Nicolson in 1967.
Marks and inscriptions
'V.N.' label reads 'V.M. Nicholson 1952' Tied onto the handle.: It was in this bag that I found VSW's manuscript in 1962, NN.