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John Adams

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD
John Adams

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Auction Date:2011 Jul 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Revolutionary War-period ALS, one page (apparently the self-contained final page of a longer letter), 7.25 x 8, no date [but Passy, France, October 1778]. Adams, the newly arrived Commissioner to the Court of France, writes to Edmé-Jacques Genet, relaying information provided to him by Cotton Tufts in August of 1778. In full: “The French Fleet, has taken many valuable Prizes from the Enemy, among which is a Vessel loaded with military Stores, having among other Things six large Mortars, with Shells Suitable for them. These came very Seasonable for driving out of their Holes, those Pests of Mankind that have so long plagued America, for which [pr]eparations are now making, and if the French Fleet in Conjunction with that of the United States should prove Superior to the British, I flatter myself, it will be shortly effected. The News of the Prize of military Stores, mentioned in the foregoing Extract, I have not Seen any where else. The Letter is from a good Authority. You may do with it what you please.”

Professionally silked and repaired in corners, laid onto a slightly larger sheet. Double matted and framed with a color portrait of Adams to an overall size of 24.5 x 18. In good condition, along with the aforementioned repairs, upper corners are singed affecting first letter of text, red wax seal remnant covering a couple letters of text, some offsetting to ink, and possibly slightly trimmed edges.

Co-author of the Declaration of Independence and second president of the United States, John Adams writes this letter as the newly appointed Ambassador to France, reveling in heated delight at the victorious blow crashed upon the British by the US’s newly acquired ally. He reports with elation the wide gamut of supplies the French usurped from “those Pests of Mankind that have so long plagued America,” listing the “many valuable Prizes from the Enemy, among which is a Vessel loaded with military Stores, having among other Things six large Mortars, with Shells Suitable for them.” Adams voice sings the praises of triumph on the high seas, assuring the urgency and extreme importance of the update: “The News of the Prize of military Stores, mentioned in the foregoing Extract, I have not Seen any where else. The Letter is from a good Authority.” Staggering correspondence harkening back to the grueling, white-knuckled journey the first revolutionaries embarked on to secure freedom, liberty and independence from a tyrannical government that sought to keep America under their thumb.
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