ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, President. Autograph letter signed ("J.Q. Adams") as a Member of Congress, to R.T. Paine, Quincy, Massachusetts, 14 November 1839. 1 page, 4to, 252 x 202 mm. (10 x 8 in.). A request for information concerning: "...the establishment of Astronomical Observatories by royal or other munificence on the continent of Europe; such as those at Paris at Palermo at Gotha at Bremen and particularly of one or more recently founded by the present Emperor of Russia - my object is to ascertain the expenses of such establishments...the remarkable instruments used at them, and any other particulars of interest connected with them."