"Material of this quality rarely comes up at auction," said city librarian Josephine Bryant.
"The lot we purchased was grouped as Canada and the Empire," said Linda Mackenzie, the library's director of research and reference. "It's made up of letters and manuscripts that speak to Doyle's views on the future of the Empire and Canada in particular."
She said Wrigglesworth, who was on holiday in London when he spontaneously decided to visit the auction, "is continuing his holiday and is no longer able to be contacted. He swooped in, purchased the papers and moved on." In an arrangement she described as "unusual," the £3,200 ($7,750) purchase price will be paid equally by the library and the Friends. The group has contributed other Conan Doyle material to the library in the past.
A manuscript written at Undershaw, Doyle's country home, argues that Canada should be valued not only for its natural wealth, for this is "something higher than the Almighty dollar." Canadians should be urged to do more "Reading & thinking . . . Not always magazines . . . Not always fiction." He describes his visits to the Ontario cities of Fort William and Port Arthur (today's Thunder Bay), the pioneer past, and the great expanses of the Prairies.
The papers also include an 1892 letter to an unidentified correspondent in which he argues that colonies such as Canada should be incorporated into a permanent federation of countries sharing a common language, sovereign and legal system.
"The Empire is too big a thing to cut and trim . . . like a Dutchman's hedge," he said, arguing that a federation would allow far-flung countries to articulate their own values.
