NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS (1806-1867); & OTHERS

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NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS (1806-1867); & OTHERS
Autograph letter, signed 'N.P. Willis', from Idlewild, 12 November 1858, 3pp., 8, to James T. Fields, thanking him for his letter: "It seems particularly gratifying to me to know that I should receive a welcome from Mr. Prescott, as I had already asked Judge Warren to procure for me the leave to call on him...It will be a sufficient attraction to bring me to Boston again in the course of the Winter. I am under a spell, as to Prescott, which no other author ever exercised over me. At the time I was laid up with a six weeks' opthalmia...my wife read to me all of his works. With my mind in a state of exceeding clearness and activity... I enjoy'd [sic] him, as few readers ever could or did.' He speaks of 'his genius as a historian, I then paid him the fullest homage of admiration. You know how hard it is, when one is active & well, and in my trade, to find the leisure for such appreciation. But Prescott, I now Know!'.
With a fragment letter by 'J.E. Trelawny'; two letters to Catherine Nicholson from Cardinal 'Jacinthe de Ferrari'; and a small quantity of prints. (11)

Lot Essay

Willis is making reference to the great American historian, William Hickling Prescott (1796-1859). His histories of the conquests of Mexico and Peru remain standard works on the subject.
Edward John Trelawny (1792-1881) was an acquaintance of Shelley at Pisa and helped to burn the drowned poet's body.

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