Arranging his summer visit to Florence - photo 1
Arranging his summer visit to Florence - photo 2
Arranging his summer visit to Florence - photo 3

Arranging his summer visit to Florence

Lot 321
16.06.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
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$ 1 134
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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ID 967521
Lot 321 | Arranging his summer visit to Florence
Estimate value
$ 1 000 – 2 000
HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864). Autograph letter signed ("Nathl Hawthorne") to E. Fensi & Co., Rome, 16 May 1858.

One page, bifolium, 214 x 346mm (small loss at top right corner with mild toning). With integral transmittal leaf addressed in his hand (repaired with paper on verso affecting text).

Hawthorne makes arrangements for a summer in Florence. After the end of his tenure as U.S. Consul at Liverpool, Hawthorne spent the next two years travelling in France and Italy. After spending the winter in Paris and Rome, Hawthorne hoped that a summer in Florence would offer him an opportunity to concentration on his writing. To that end, he entrusted sculptor Hiram Powers to assist with arrangements for accommodations there. Here he writes to a potential landlord in Florence: "I beg to inform you that I have a letter of credit on your house from Messrs. Baring Brothers of London and as I purpose [sic propose] being in Florence in the course of a week or two. I must ask the favor of you to engage an apartment for us in the Casa della Bello, Via Florence, for a term of two months certain, provided it can be had at the rate of $40 per month, or less. Mr. Hiram Powers will have the kindness to confer with you, and point out the particular apartment which should suit me. I intend to leave Rome about the 24th inst. and shall be willing to take the apartment from the first of June." The same day, he wrote to Powers requesting that he assist in "negotiations on my behalf, about a suite of apartments in Florence. [Their mutual friend, Mr. Akers] tells me that there is a house nearly opposite your own, in the Via Forance, which he thinks would be well adapted to my family, and might be had for about $40 per month." (CE: 17:144) Not published in Letters, Centennial Edition.

[With:] HAWTHORNE, Sophia Peabody (1809-1871). Autograph letter signed ("Sophia Hawthorne") to Hiram Powers, Concord, 28 September 1865. Four pages, bifolium mourning stationery, 203 x 126mm. Arranging visits to Florence for her friends and cousin and mentioning the death of Nathaniel Hawthorne. "I am requested by a cousin of mine to furnish two ladies, a mother and her daughter, with letters of introduction to some persons of importance and friendliness in Florence…. My dear Mr. Powers, you know very well, I suppose, what an unspeakable bereavement we have met with. I am sure you have sympathized with us for our vast loss. I think you for all the pleasant hours that my husband spent with you, and for the great delight he took in your lovely and superb creations…." [Also With:] HAWTHORNE, Hildegarde (1871-1952). Autograph letter signed ("Hildegarde Hawthorne") to [Henrietta W. Dyer] , New York, [n.d]. Three pages, bifolium, 134 x 104mm. Julian Hawthorne's eldest daughter recalls fondly, "the charming intercourse I had with you during my short stay in Florence several years ago," and introducing a friend an her mother who "are passing the winter in Florence & I know it will mean much to them to meet such people as you and your husband." Henrietta Dyer was the wife of William Preston Powers (1843-1931) the son of sculptor Hiram Powers.
Artist:Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864)
Place of origin:USA
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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16.06.2023
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