[Three Manuscript Letters Sent to Aristarchus Champion from New York Correspondents Just Following the Mexican-American War, Concerning Mexican Claims, New York Real Estate Prices, a Proposed "Road to Lake Erie," and Art Purchases

New York, 1850. Very good.. Three manuscript letters, totaling nine pages, and approximately X words. All on single folded sheets, all addressed on the verso of the second leaf. Old mailing folds, minor foxing and wear, small hole in second leaf of two letters from removed wax seals. An informative trio of manuscript letters sent by Thomas Spencer and William W. Bliss from New York City to Aristarchus Champion in Rochester. Aristarchus Champion (1784-1871) was a Yale graduate in 1807 and spent a long career as a lawyer, real estate speculator, and philanthropist. He was involved in business dealings with both of his correspondents here, and the letters detail some of those activities. The letter by Thomas Spencer is dated April 10, 1849, and concerns business dealings relating to both Mexican claims and New York real estate. Spencer writes in detail about a farm he attempted to sell "for the Mexican claims, but could not make it go." He also discusses further speculation in Mexican claims in a long paragraph on the second page, throwing out numbers like $50,000 and $90,000 as proposed totals for various deals before returning to further detailed discussion on the prospects of selling his farm. The remaining two letters are written to Champion by William M. Bliss, a business associate of Champion's. In his first letter here, written in January 1849, Bliss writes about the state of bonds, potential liens, and other financial matters relating to his company's business interests with regard to a new "road to Lake Erie" and Binghamton. Bliss's second letter is entirely concerned with the potential purchase of several paintings, including a "landscape on the Delaware River" by Walter Mason Oddie and a "scene in Gray's elegy" by an English emigrant artist who has become "an adopted citizen" of the United States. Bliss notes several prices in the process of discussing these various paintings. These letters concern a wide range of business dealings in New York in the mid-19th century, including Mexican claims and current art prices, providing a solid opportunity for studying contemporary real estate and art markets. (Inventory #: 4842)