Description:

Longfellow Henry

1p ALS penned and signed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as, "Henry W. Longfellow" and dated, "Cambridge, June 22, 1880", on recto and verso of cream stationary, 4.5" x 7", near fine condition, two small paper remnants on verso where page most likely was attached to another paper surface.

He writes to Mr. Ferguson as follows:

"This will be handed you by Mr. Laughlin, teacher of Political Economy in our University. He will bring you my cordial congratulations on the triumph of your party in the late elections. In return may I ask of you the favor of giving him easy access to the House of Commons? All are well here in the Craigie House, and send you kindest remembrances ... "

Faithfully Yours,

Henry W. Longfellow

After graduating in 1825, Longfellow was offered a job as professor of modern languages at Bowdoin, his alma mater. An apocryphal story claims that college trustee Benjamon Orr had been impressed by Longfellow's translation of Horace and hired him under the condition that he travel to Europe to study French, Spanish, and Italian which he began in May 1826.

Upon his return from Europe, on August 27, 1829, he wrote to the president of Bowdoin that he was turning down the professorship because he considered the $600 salary "disproportionate to the duties required". The trustees raised his salary to $800 with an additional $100 to serve as the college's librarian, a post which required one hour of work per day.

During his years teaching at the college, he translated textbooks from French, Italian, and Spanish; his first published book was a translation of the poetry of medieval Spanish poet Jorge Manrique in 1833.

In December 1834, Longfellow received a letter from Josiah Quincy III, president of Harvard College, offering him the Smith Professorship of Modern Languages with the stipulation that he spend a year or so abroad.There, he further studied German as well as Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, and Icelandic.

Longfellow returned to the United States in 1836 and took up the professorship at Harvard. He was required to live in Cambridge to be close to the campus and, therefore, rented rooms at the Craigie House in the spring of 1837.The home was built in 1759 and was the headquarters of George Washington during the Siege of Boston beginning in July 1775.

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