ROLE OF CHRISTIE'S IN THE SALE OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE PAPERS

EDM number 1222 in 2003-04, proposed by Alex Salmond on 18/05/2004.

That this House reiterates its belief that the important collection of papers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to be sold by Christie's at private auction, should be kept intact and in the public domain for scholars and academic research; believes it is highly unsatisfactory that, despite some last minute moves under pressure of a parliamentary motion, Christie's had not insisted on all of the information concerning legal title of the documents being made available to interested parties before agreeing to the auction; in particular regrets the refusal of the sellers to accede to a request by the British Library for private sight of documents regarding the division of the collection in 1997, which creates the concern that the small portion passed to the late Dame Jean Bromet at that time and now lodged under the terms of her will with the British Library was not allocated in a fair and reasonable manner; and is deeply disappointed at the failure of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to make an intervention to get the auction delayed or indeed show any interest in this important matter.

This motion has been signed by a total of 22 MPs.