Manuscript Letters Signed
London. Item #019236
A Founder of Boston Public Library and his Admirer Mrs. Katherine Lawrence Joshua Bates (1788-1864) was a financier and among the first founders of the Boston Public Library giving them $50,000 to purchase worthwhile books of value and later giving them 30,000 volumes This collection contains four letters of correspondence (November 1858 to December 1859) between Joshua Bates and Mrs. [Katherine] Lawrence, the wife of Lawrence Abbott (1792-1855) U.S. Congressman and minister to Great Britain. She had had a bust made of her husband and Mr. Bates writes that he also would like a similar one. After she provided him with the bust he requested, he said he would very much like to have a picture of her husband to display in his dining room along with other great men he admired. She soon provided an engraving. Mr. Bates at 81 now discusses old age and his family. A very nice collection.
Price: $210.00