Autograph Manuscript titled "Babylon," an unused fragment intended for Mahomet and His Successors, enclosed in an ALS to Rev. Frederick G. Clark.
n.d.
Price: $1,250.00
About the item
8vo. Old folds, fine.
Item #305842
A manuscript leaf of material Irving meant to––but did not––use for his Mahomet and His Successors (1850). Headed "Babylon," and citing the German historian Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren, it reads in part: "In the earliest records of the human race, says the learned Heeren, the name of Babylon appears as the primeval seat of political society and the cradle of civilization; and this name endured great and renowned for a long succession of ages ... [after which] Seleucia sprang up ... both these were destroyed by the conquering Arabs, the royal cities of Bagdad and Ormans arose in their place" etc. Though not published until 1850, Irving began work on Mahomet as early as 1831.
The manuscript is enclosed in an Autograph Letter Signed to Rev. Frederick G. Clark, dated October 4, 1850, in which Irving writes, "As you express a desire for an autograph I send you a note from Heeren, which I intended for my work on the successors of Mahomet, but never used." Reverend Clark was pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Astoria, Queens.
