Tagore letter sold for Rs 21 lakh, seven times the base price

KOLKATA: A rare handwritten letter by Rabindranath Tagore, where he expressed reservations about English translations of his short stories, was sold at a price seven times above the original higher estimate at an online art auction on June 21-22, reports Priyanka Dasgupta. Initially expected to be acquired at the estimated value of Rs 2 lakh-Rs 3 lakh, it went for Rs 21,13,212, following competitive bidding by several collectors.

The letter is dated January 3, 1930, and is addressed to Satyabhushan Sen. The letter begins with the line that he had proof readers did not appreciate the English translation of his short stories. According to Tagore, English readers would not like his stories as the style of his writing was vastly different from the English writers of his time.