Letters from Lord Byron, Elizabeth I and Benjamin Franklin among collection discovered in British stately home

Rare autographed cache found by researcher at National Trust’s Waddesdon Manor

Baron Edmond de Rothschild was one of Europe’s richest and best connected men. But his lifelong hobby – hunting the autographs of the famous – was more akin to that of an idolising youngster.

Nine decades after his death, more than 220 letters he collected over 60 years have just been discovered at Waddesdon Manor, the former Rothschild home, now owned by the National Trust.