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Thomas Venning, Senior Specialist in the London Books & Manuscripts department, finds that a letter by the philosopher Hegel throws an unexpected light on an austere character.

The great majority of the objects offered for sale by Christie’s – from Impressionists to teddy bears – were consciously created for public viewing. This characteristic is not shared by autograph letters, where what comes down to us is simply the medium, the physical support for a message of which we can only be belated eavesdroppers.

The messages are not always especially profound, either. The early years of the 19th Century were a key period in the career of the philosopher Wilhem Hegel, when he had at last secured a lecturing position at the University of Jena, and had begun to lay the ground-work for his first great publication, Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807). He also needed to eat and drink, and in the brief note included in the Fine Printed Books sale at Christie’s South Kensington on 13 June we find him writing to his wine-merchant in nearby Erfurt to order another half-measure (or literally 'bucket') of wine.

This image of Hegel enjoying a glass of wine sits in pleasing contrast to his popular reputation of austerity and impenetrability. But this little note does tell us a little more about the man: he was often in severe financial straits at this period (his university position was unsalaried), and the wine variety he orders, 'pontak', is a light red wine rather towards the bottom of the scale in terms of quality. It is hardly heard of today.