Autograph Letter Signed ("Washington Irving"), citing the care of a sick relative in declining the invitation of Mr. Fairfax.
[Paris]: March 10, [1824].
Price: $500.00
About the item
1 page. 12mo. Two faint marginal spots, old folds, but fine.
Item #309069
"It would give me great pleasure my dear Madam to accept of Mr Fairfax' kind invitation but I have a nephew ill at my lodgings with a virulent attack of the smallpox whom I cannot quit – and indeed under such circumstances it would be improper for me to visit given the risk of community contagion." The letter dates from the period Irving was living in Europe and working on the stories which would be published later in 1824 as Tales of a Traveller. Irving note the progress of the illness of his nephew, Irving Van Wart, in his daybook from the period.
