Typed Letter Signed.
This American diplomatic wunderkind had served as U.S. Consul to Singapore, U.S. Consul and Consul General to Hong Kong, negotiator in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War, editor of San Francvisco's "Overland Monthly," author several books such as "The Panglima Muda" (1894) and "Tales of the Malayan Coast" (1899) -- all by the age of 37, when with wife and two children he drowned in San Francisco Bay when his steamer was returning there from Hong Kong in a thick fog. Item #42150
TLS, 1p, 8¼" X 10", Hong Kong, 23 December 1898. Addressed to Jessie L. Gladwin. Good only. Thin and rather fragile age-toned beige stock, with delicate original folds and numerous small chips along lower edge. Good content written several months after the conclusion of the Spanish-American War (August 13), reading in part: "By the time your very kind request of August 1st arrived, the war was practically finished, so although it would have given me great pleasure to have answered it, its object would have been defeated. The "Red Cross" Society has done splendid work in Manila, and we are all very proud of our American women...." Boldly signed in full in brown ink. Interesting and unusual.
Price: $95.00