Description:

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Liverpool, England, March 27, 1857
Nathaniel Hawthorne Boldly Signed Liverpool Consular Doc For Latter-Day Immigrant Ship
PPDS
Two double-sided consular documents, including one half-sheet boldly signed by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), the American writer then U.S. Consul at Liverpool, England, as "Nath Hawthorne" at lower right. March 21, 1857. Liverpool, England. The documents are countersigned by at least four other individuals, including: U.S. Vice Consul at Liverpool Samuel Pearce, Hawthorne's subordinate; William O. Tweed, Principal Clerk at Liverpool Bill of Entry Office; ship's master James H. Thomas; and ship's mate William Hicks. Expected wear including flattened folds, some with splits along the creases, and one of the documents showing chipped and taped edges. Else very good. The average size of the documents is 7.75" x 6.375."

The consular documents all relate to particulars of the voyage of the transport ship "John J. Boyd," which left the port of New York on December 29, 1856 en route to Liverpool carrying the following contents: "Fifty nine tons seven hundred weight, two quarters and twenty two pounds Logwood, and a further quantity of Two hundred weight and Twenty pounds." The ship's contents were inventoried and off-loaded by merchants Thompson McKay & Company after March 1, 1857.

Built in 1855, the "John J. Boyd" is a well-known transatlantic immigrant passenger ship. The "John J. Boyd" transported over 2,000 immigrants, mostly Latter-Day Saints or Mormons from Scandinavia and Great Britain, on three separate voyages to the United States between 1855 and 1863.

Hawthorne reluctantly served as U.S. Consul at Liverpool between 1853-1857. The document helps us understand the frustrated novelist's life in Liverpool, a city he elsewhere called a "black and miserable hole." Though the Liverpool consulship was considered a plum post second only to London in terms of remuneration and prestige, Hawthorne detested it. Hawthorne had had previous experience working a tedious bureaucratic day job in order to pay the bills, notably while serving as Surveyor for the District of Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts in the 1840s. Hawthorne accepted the Liverpool appointment the same year his "Tanglewood Tales For Boys and Girls" was published.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: average size: 7.75" x 6.375"
  • Medium: PPDS

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