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an old document with writing on it sitting on top of a table
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103 - Jean-Baptiste SAY (1767–1832). Autograph letter, Paris, 15 S…
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Estimate €500 - €700
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Description
Jean-Baptiste SAY (1767–1832). Autograph letter, Paris, 15 September 1816, to Michel Delaroche, merchant in Le Havre; 3 pages in-4, address. Business letter, referring to the shipwreck of *La Méduse*. He has exhausted the 10 mf credit he had with Delessert & Co., and he and his partners wish to get their business back on its feet; he therefore requests ‘a small extension of my credit with Delessert & Co., and if, based on the early stages of our operations, I do not see the possibility of repaying you the advances out of the profits, which are expected to materialise fairly quickly, then we would instruct the New York office to sell some of my American holdings’. He would like to borrow 5,000 francs: ‘the reason being that we have been obliged to make advances to several farmers in need to secure their potato harvests; that we have paid a substantial bribe to reduce our rent; and finally, we have, by calculation, increased our stock of lead and copper […] which will save us the cost of repairs and other minor expenses”. He then gives news of his family and is delighted that his son Horace is making the crossing before the English Channel becomes dangerous. This leads him to comment on the recent shipwreck of the Méduse (in July); ‘This happened entirely through the fault of the expedition’s leader, whose only merit was that he was a staunch counter-revolutionary. I was consulted about this expedition, which I criticised (not because of the shipwreck, which I could not have foreseen) but because of the aim that was set and the means employed. Even if it had reached its destination safely, it would not have succeeded, and I foresaw disasters’”…
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part I
Auction location
Auction time 10/13/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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