[AMERICAN PRINTERS - CHOLERA EPIDEMIC] WILLIAMS, William

Two Autograph Letters, Signed, to His Mother Mrs. D. Wells

Buffalo and Canandaigua, NY: 1832. Two autograph letters, dated February 11 and 14, 1832; the first 3pp. on cream bifolium, approx. 450 words, integral address cancel postally used, small loss from broken wax seal not affecting text; second letter 2pp. on blue bifolium (the latter page of text addressed to Williams's housekeeper Miss Sanford), approx. 385 words, integral address cancel postally used, brief tearing and loss from broken wax seal slightly affecting a couple of words with brief loss of sense. Very Good overall.

Two letters written by William Williams (1787-1850), printer and publisher based in Utica, Oneida County, New York, whose firm Seward & Williams specialized in religious and instructive works. Both letters written during a journey made by the author shortly after the death of his wife Sophia, with much of the content relating to his grief: "The last letter Sophia wrote me at this place [Buffalo], reminds me that her hand is cold." However, at the time of writing, Williams was presumably traveling to administer to those suffering from an outbreak of cholera, of which he clearly had fallen prey by the time he reached Canandaigua, describing debilitating vomitting: "I reached this place [Buffalo] last evening after a painful day's ride from Canandaigua. My sickness at my stomach came on soon after we started; and vomited a great deal; but without much relief, tho' I went without eating through the day except a cup of coffee and a cracker or two." The remainder of the contents pertain to household affairs, reminding his mother to see to it that his young children say their prayers every evening (though "I am happy in being able to say not one of them have ever appeared to regard it as a burden; but on the contrary they have generally appeared to engage in the practice with delight"); and includes detailed instructions to housekeeper Miss Sanford on pickling a tub of ham left in the "scellar." (See "Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography," Vol. VI, p. 534.).

Price: $750.00

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