I have in my possession what I believe to be quite a discovery: two antique letters written and signed by Stephen Hales (1677 - 1761), the English physiologist, chemist and inventor, and intended to be read by Philip Miller (1691 - 1771), a botanist of Scottish descent, and one antique letter written and signed by Philip Miller and addressed to Peter Collinson (1694 - 1768), who according to Wikipiedia was "a Fellow of the Royal Society, an avid gardener, and the middleman for an international exchange of scientific ideas in mid-18th century London."
These three letters came into my possession quite by accident. In the early 1990s I lived in an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, and in the closet of the room I moved into I found, high up on a shelf, the abovementioned letters in a tattered old folder. The letters, however, appear to be in quite decent shape considering their age. I believe these letters were left there not by the roommate I had at the time (who eventually left town) but by whoever may have been renting the room I was living in before I took his place. At the time I really didn't think too much of what might have come into my possession, but when I finally moved out of the apartment myself I took the letters with me and they wound up inside of a box with several personal papers of mine. I then completely forgot about them for the next several years.
Just a couple of weeks ago I was going through this box of personal papers, found the letters, and became quite curious indeed. Back then I didn't have the luxury of the internet to research them online, but now that this was a possibility I turned to our old friend Google. I found at least one antique website who was selling at least two other Stephen Hales-written and autographed letters for a cool $2,999 each! Though I know more than enough about collecting to realize that this doesn't necessarily apply any sort of true face value to the letters currently in my own possession, it nonetheless inspired me to take my discoveries to a local antique appraiser who, after much careful scrutiny, confirmed that both Hales letters as well as the Miller-to-Collinson letter indeed appear to be authentic.
Now for the finer details: one of the two Hales letters is dated September 20, 1758 and according to a small professionally printed note affixed to the back concerns the construction of a heated greenhouse for the Princess of Wales, under the direction of the Earl of Bute. The other letter is dated May 14, 1757, and while I don't have a clue as to who the intended recipient was, what little I can make out of the Olde English handwriting and vernacular appears to me to be a description of some book he has recently received.
The Miller letter carries a date of November 7, 1746. Again, perhaps someone can help me in deciphering the handwriting, but it is neatly addressed to its recipient Collinson on the back. It also appears to be professionally reinforced along one edge.
Adding to the mystery and intrigue as to where they came from and how they ended up in my possession are the presence of small rubber-stamped dates on each of the three letters and the additional presence of pencil-written price tags and names which I believe to have been put there by the British merchants who sold these letters to whomever back in the mid-thirties. The September 1758 Hales letter is stamped with a date of April 28, 1937 and below it is written "James Tregaskis and Son," and a British pound symbol followed by the hyphenated number "1-11-6." The May 1757 Hales letter is stamped with a date of May 18, 1934 and the writing below it seems to indicate that it was sold by "Dulan & Co." for three British pounds. There is also a stamped postmark of some sort about two-thirds of the way down the back of the letter on the right hand side. The Miller-to-Collinson letter is stamped with a date of September 21, 1936, but bears no pencil markings indicating either price or potential origin.
As I mentioned earlier, these letters were found inside a tattered old folder that has all but completely fallen apart. Nonetheless, it should be noted that there is writing in pencil on the front of the folder which says "Hales, Stephen, Physiologist & Inventor, 1677 - 1761, A.L.S. 1p. folio, 20/9/1758" (the short-form date, of course, rendered in the traditional British method which puts the day before the month). Inside the folder is professionally printed the following name and address: "James Tregaskis, The Caxton Head, 66 Great Russell Street, London W.C."
A Google search for James Tregaskis yields several hits indicating that he was a prominent and well-known merchant of antique books and documents in London in the early 1900s. Meanwhile, a search for Dulan & Co. indicates that they were quite active in the book publishing business from the turn of the 20th Century.
I have posted scans of all three letters online at this link.If anyone out there has anything to say regarding value, etc., please contact me privately at dkdawson65@aol.com. Thanks!
