125 / 194
WASHINGTON’S BIOGRAPHER SENDS COPIES OF
THE FIRST PRESIDENT’S LETTERS
191
●
(WASHINGTON, GEORGE.) SPARKS, JARED. Autograph Letter Signed, to
Louisa Lear Eyre (“My dear Mrs. Eyre”), reporting that he had shipped to her
Washington’s
Letters
, explaining that he obtained the copies of the letters from her father, noting that he
never saw the originals and, in a postscript, adding that Adams’s Express was employed
to ship the package. 1
1
/
2
pages, with integral blank, ruled paper; folds.With the original
envelope. (MRS)
Cambridge, 31 December 1856
[400/600]
“
. . . [T]his day I have sent to the
Philadelphia Express in Boston the volume
of Washington’s Letters. It will probably be
delivered at your residence. . . .”
“
The copies were sent to me by your father,
I think about the year 1830. I had before
conversed with him about the letters, but I
never saw the originals, nor do I know in
whose possession they then were.The copies
came to me in loose sheets, & I had them
bound into the volume as you now see it.
“
I always supposed the originals belonged
to your father, & in such case I presume
they ought now to be yours. I hope you will
succeed in obtaining them. . . .”
The copies of the GeorgeWashington letters
referred to in the present lot are those made
by Benjamin Lincoln Lear (1791-1832)
from the originals addressed to his father,
Washington’s personal secretary, Tobias
Lear. Benjamin Lincoln Lear sent, around
1830, the copies to Jared Sparks, who, in
turn, sent the copies to Louisa Lear Eyre.
Eyre used the letters as source material for her book,
Letters and Recollections of George
Washington
, NewYork, 1906.
192
●
WILSON, WOODROW. Typed Letter Signed, as President of Princeton
University, to George B. Kinkhead, conveying a suggestion about how to best to utilize his
gift to Princeton University. 1 page, 4to, “President’s Room” stationery; faint toning at
edges, folds. (MRS)
Princeton, 24 April 1905
[250/350]
“
. . . [T]he Chairman of the Finance Committee . . . makes the very excellent suggestion . . .
that you devote the $1,000 provided for in your will to a fund for the purchase of books in
some department of study which you may designate as a memorial to Mr. Gordon.This will
make the gift a permanent benefit and help to support the Library . . . .”
WITH
—
WoodrowWilson.Two typed letters with ink-stamped signatures, the first to Benjamin
Markowitz, the second to Henry E. Mashin, sending thanks. Each
1
/
2
page, 4to. [Trenton], 27
June 1911; 15 November 1912.