Apr 14, 2015 - Sale 2380

Sale 2380 - Lot 298

Price Realized: $ 500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(CUBA.) Peirce, Elisha N. Diaries of three vacations in Cuba, Mexico, and Jamaica. [75], [18], [42] manuscript pages. 3 volumes. Oblong 12mo, original calf, minimal wear; contents clean and legible, though the spelling is imperfect; two of the volumes signed on the front pastedowns. Vp, [1897]-1901
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Elisha Nye Peirce (1839-1904) of Waltham, MA was a Civil War veteran and prosperous market gardener, the largest supplier of Easter lilies in New England. These diaries record three winter trips he took with his late wife's brother Franklin C. Wyman (1849-1929). The first and probably most significant diary describes a trip to Mexico from 22 January to 28 February 1897. Peirce stops briefly in Havana en route, and describes events in the Cuban War for Independence. On 27 January he gives a report from the American consul in Havana: "Gen. Fitzhugh Lee says the insurgents attacked the Spaniards last Sunday, kill 8 & wounded about 300 of them." This likely refers to a 16 January incident when the rebels derailed a train. After a whirlwind four-week tour of Mexico (Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca, the capital and more), Peirce's ship stopped in Havana while headed north. They took on several Cuban passengers who, after establishing that no Spaniards were aboard, spoke freely of the rebellion. One had "a letter from an insurgent colonel who commanded a detachment that lately captured a train. . . . It described the engagement and capture of the Spanish. Two Spanish officers being native Cubans he felt compelled to execute them."
The second diary describes a trip to Jamaica from 24 to 31 January, probably 1899. Peirce visits Port Antonio and Kingston, giving a vivid description of some East Indian immigrants ("coolies") he visits on 25 and 31 January. The third diary describes a longer visit to Havana and Florida from 30 January to 20 February 1901. An avid cigar smoker, Peirce pronounces that Cuba "has the rottenest cigars that can be found in any place except Jamaica" (31 January). In the wake of the American occupation, he observes that "the Cubans hate the Yankees, hate the Spaniard, and don't love the nigar" (3 February). Returning through Florida, he tours orange groves and pronounces Lake Helen "the smallest mud hole that I ever heard called a lake" (14 February). These are lively journals and describe Havana just before and after the Spanish-American War.