Description: [1838 MAGOUN & SON BOSTON BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE FROM ANTWERP] MAGOUN & SON, BOSTON: 4-page notice and letter, 8-1/2” x 10-1/2” with folds as mailed partly typescript form letter and partly handwritten letter dated August 15, 1838, unstamped ship’s letter, notice to T. Magoun & Son, Boston, from Antwerp, Belgium, the four pages are: (i) handwritten address “Messrs. T. Magoun & Son, Boston” with Antwerp return address, date, and name of firm; (ii) form letter to T. Magoun & Son (handwritten) announcing that the firm “Mertens, Mosselman, & Co.” is resuming business after having liquidated in 1832 with the intention of so resuming at a “more favourable period by the junior branches of the families”; (iii, left inside page) handwritten letter dated Antwerp August 25, 1838, to Magoun & Son, Boston, reading in part, “Gentlemen: At the recommendation of our mutual friend Baring Bros. & Co. of London we beg leave to refer you to the circulars and to offer you our best services…The demands for Sugars have become more active within these few days [continues with prices for different types including “Manilla, which is scarce”]…Coffee goes off to supply the wants of consumption [continues with prices for a couple of kinds, and continues similarly for cotton, rice, U. S. potatoes, Sumatra pepper, whale oil, and tobacco mentioning particularly Virginia and Kentucky tobacco]…We shall take pleasure in giving you the information you may particularly require of our market.”; (iv, inside right page) printed form letter, reading in part, “Sirs, Although retired from business myself, I take the liberty of introducing to your notice the new establishment…I beg to solicit your kind patronage in their favour…[handsigned] Mosselman De Hette [?]”; one-of—kind business communication bringing together three major international trading firms of the 19th century in different countries /// POINTS OF INTEREST: Magoun & Son, Boston, founded by Thatcher Magoun (1776-1856), a shipbuilder in Medford, MA; the firm shortly became a highly successful mercantile firm operating out of Boston actively trading in ports throughout the world for much of the nineteenth century and having business relationships with major banking and import-export firms in Europe (online sources); Mertens, Mosselman & Co., Antwerp, Belgium, established in 1838 on the basis of work, reputation, and relationships of associates and forerunners over roughly the previous decade was a major firm not only in international trading, but also financial matters regarding Belgian colonization in Africa (online sources); Baring Brothers & Co., Baring Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and the world’s second-oldest merchant bank after Berenberg Bank, Baring's close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 by Francis Baring, a British-born member of the German-British Baring family of merchants and bankers…The new partnership [formed in 1804] was called Baring Brothers & Co., which it remained until 1890…The bank collapsed in 1995 after suffering losses of £827 million (£1.6 billion in 2019)[ resulting from fraudulent investments, primarily in futures contracts…" (wikipedia) /// CONDITION: mainly well-preserved on lighter paper for international mail, but weak along the folds for mailing with some limited loss and small hole (about the size of a dime) where stamp was removed by a previous owner with the loss of parts of two words on page iii. keywords: historical business correspondence, international commerce, Boston shipping merchant, 19th century business
Price: 225 USD
Location: Southport, Connecticut
End Time: 2024-04-03T14:48:33.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
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Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Time Period Manufactured: Pre-1900
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Modified Item: No
