209

John Taylor.

Letter enclosing the clipped signature of Brigham Young and the First Presidency.

Salt Lake City, UT, 7 January 1882
Letter Signed as LDS President, to Edward W. Bok of New York. One page, 8¼ x 5¼ inches, on "President's Office" letterhead; with clipped signatures of Brigham Young and the First Presidency, 1½ x 2¾, tipped to lower margin, later notes added in colored pencil on verso.

  • Notes: This is on the surface a simple response to an autograph request. It is made special by the autographs, but also by the unusual circumstances under which it was written. 

    John Taylor (1808-1887) succeeded Brigham Young in 1880 as the third President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Soon the Gardo House mansion was designated as the official presidential home. Taylor's official opening reception and tour took place on 2 January 1882, 5 days before he wrote this letter. The Edmunds Act banning polygamy was passed on 23 March, and Taylor remained in the Gardo House with his sister to avoid prosecution for having plural wives. 

    The letter is in response to a request from the distinguished Ladies Home Journal editor Edward Bok: "I respectfully enclose herewith the autographs of the late President Brigham Young, his son John W. Young and Hon. Daniel H. Wells; the last two named were the counselors to Pres't Young." 

    Affixed is a clipped group signature of the First Presidency as constituted from 1876 until Brigham Young's 1877 death: Brigham Young, his son John Willard Young (1844-1924), and Daniel Hanmer Wells (1814-1891).

    Provenance: Heritage auction, 11 April 2013, lot 34014; collection of Larry Faria.

    With--a later press photo of Edward Bok.   
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