A BELGIAN FISHING HOLIDAY
MAXWELL
(Archibald Montgomery, Colonel 36th Regiment of Foot, d. 1845)
Long Autograph Letter Signed to 'My Dear Sir'
(old pencil note 'J. Griffiths'), explaining "it would ill repay D'Ewes my inviting him here for the express purpose of flogging the water", he spent the previous day taking Lord Bolingbroke round his stretch for just one trout, "we are ... living ... hugger-mugger ... without cook - almost without a chair ... or a plate ... from taking an empty house ... I have been ... completely diddled", he knows D'Ewes "is rather devious & cunning in the gastronomic art", but he can offer "a tough beef steak", with "good liquor" from his wine-merchant Mr Cries, he suggests D'Ewes try for a day's permission for two on Count Merci d'Argenteau's water, "I could not do him, or his trout, any harm if I had the Arms of Briareus with fifty rods in each and as many hooks", about four years ago Col Webber Smith's party "made one of their servants fish", since when the Count has become "inexorable", 4 sides 8vo., 71 Rue St Germain, Huy, Belgium, 5th - 7th June
light traces of old transparent paper without loss
Item Date:
1830
Stock No:
50378
£95
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MAXWELL
(Sir Murray, 1775-1831, K.C.B., F.R.S., Captain R.N.)
Portrait engraved by W.T. Fry,
showing him half length, full face, in uniform, framed by nautical emblems, while, above, a putto shelters from the crashing waves, published by T. Boys, 7 Ludgate Hill, 1st May
laid down by side margins
Item Date:
1821
Stock No:
50380
£35
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FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF THE COUP D'ETAT IN PARIS OF 1851
MAY
(Edward Harrison Jr., 1824-1887, English-American Painter who spent much of his career in Paris)
Long Autograph Letter Signed to "My dear Johnson"
saying that "of course you will have read the accounts of the last revolution here. Your papers will be full of it and contain probably a good an account as I good (sic) give you and perhaps a better history than I know myself as all the press here is awed into the service of Louis Napoleon and dare only give the most one sided & partial views of the occurrences that took place then. I passed over the Boulevard the day after the surrender of the barricades and found some of the horses much battered by the cannon shot & musketry. They say that the soldiers behaved more brutally than on any former occasion. Most of them were drunk & many of the officers. About every officer had a cigar in his mouth, a very unsoldier-like thing but which gave an appearance of great coolness & premeditation in the arrangement of things. At the Porte St Denis the soldiers were taken on off the Boulevard for 5 hours on purpose to allow the people time to build the barricade without molestation until it should be nearly completed that the destruction of its defenders might be more complete & inevitable. An American named Sterling happened to be on the Boulevard near the barricade when the soldiers commenced the attack. He took refuge with some 18 or 20 men & women most of them inoffensive and respectable inhabitants in a booksellers shop, which was immediately entered by the drunken soldiery & every person but himself bayonnetted, his own escape was almost miraculous & through the intervention of an officer. Dr Hunt & another American named Cagon were walking peaceably on the Boulevard des Italiens on the Tuesday evening of the day when the 'coup d'etat' took place, a crowd of boys passed singing the Marseillaise & crying 'Vive la Republique' after they had passed a party of Sargents de ville came up & arrested Hunt and his friend they neither of them attempted to resist. Hunt was seized by two of these cowardly brutes & a third came up & struck him over the head with a 'casse tete', an instrument on the principle of the sling shot of the 'bhoys', his head was cut open & in that state he was dragged before a Commissaire de Police who discharged him as nothing could be alleged against him but his wound confined him to the house twelve days and he had a narrow escape with his life. Cagon although equally innocent was sent to the Conciergerie where he was confined with twelve hundred other wretched prisoners in a miserable dungeon for 5 days and only released after great exertions on the part of Mr Rives and the consul. Numbers of people have been shot scarcely with the form of a trial on suspicion of being opposed to the government. A few days ago seventy poor wretches were shot on the 'Champ de Mars' charged with having arms in their possession. I have not heard of any Americans having been killed. Some Lieutenant Jones of the army or navy I don't know which was shot through the thigh and had two fingers shot off. I have heard of three or four English having been shot, among others Parris the druggist in the the Rue de la Paix whose shop you may remember. The Provinces are in a wretched state of disturbance and excitement, about half the cities and large towns have been .. in a state of siege. I do not apprehend however another actual outbreak in Paris as a struggle against 150,000 men (which is the number of soldiers within the walls of Paris at present) would be too unequal & hopeless. The election for President takes place next Sunday ... if that can be called an election where there is but one candidate whom people dare not & could not oppose. The election (so called) in the army was a farce of the richest character the very few officers who dared to vote against Napoleon were cashiered & I have only heard of one soldier who did not ask for him & he declared himself not sufficiently instructed to vote. This was paraded in the papers in evidence of the freedom allowed in the army! ..." he then talks about his work "I am still working in the atelier ... though I have not attempted to paint many pictures. I was disappointed that the Art Union did not purchase my Esmerelda as I am sure it was one of the best things I ever did and it was generally liked here among the artists. Etinger hss finished the two little genre pictures you saw commenced in our room ..." and the last page is devoted to more personal chat, about friends getting married, a visit to England, the weather and his departure from New York, 4 sides 4to., with a crosswritten postscript, 77 Rue Pizah, Paris, 14th December
Item Date:
1851
Stock No:
39552
£475
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MAZZINI REFERRING TO HIS POLISH COMMITTEE AND LEADING FIGURES OF THE JANUARY 1863 UPRISING
MAZZINI
(Giuseppe, 1805-1872, Italian Patriot)
Autograph Letter Signed in English to an unnamed correspondent
saying that "There is in being a central Polish Committee: the treasurer is Monsieur Edmond de Lafayette, Quai Malaquais n.3. But I fear the funds would be applied to exiles residing in France. The treasurer would no doubt answer the question. General Langewicz now in Switzerland and General Bossack in Florence would most likely be the most convenient persons to whom to send funds for the proposal you mention. I am in contact with both ...", 1 side sm. 8vo., 2 Onslow Terrace, Fulham Road, 4th March circa
Item Date:
1866
Stock No:
41738
£1275
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[McCLELLAN
(George Brinton, 1826-1885, Civil War General)]
Fine unsigned carte de visite photo "enterend according to Act of Congress in the year 1861, by M.B. Brady ... in New York",
showing him three-quarter length standing with one hand behind his back and his other inside his jacket, no place, no date, c.
Item Date:
1860
Stock No:
29739
£175
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