[CARTER HOWARD]: (1874-1939) ALBA DUKE OF (1878-1953)

[CARTER HOWARD]: (1874-1939) English archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. ALBA DUKE OF (1878-1953) Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart. Spanish peer, diplomat, politician, art collector and Olympic medallist. One of the most important aristocrats of his time, the Duke was considered by some as the legitimate heir to the Scottish throne, and served as the Foreign Minister of Spain 1930-31. T.L.S., Alba, one page, 4to, Hans Place, London, 13th February 1939, to Howard Carter ( ´My dear Carter´). The Duke writes, in full, ´I rang you up this morning to ask if you could lunch with me one day, and I hear that you are laid up and have a nurse in attendance. I hope it is nothing very serious, and I shall be glad to have news of you´. With an unrelated pencil annotation in the hand of Carter to the verso, being the address and telephone number of a bank on King William Street in London. A few minor spots of foxing, some creasing to the edges and a small tear to the centre of the right edge, G Carter died from Hodgkin´s disease on 3rd March 1939, just a few weeks after receiving the present letter.