Sep 30, 2010 - Sale 2223

Sale 2223 - Lot 132

Price Realized: $ 960
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(MASSACHUSETTS.) Small archive of Cooper-Hixon family papers spanning four generations. 16 items, various sizes; the 1754 Bulfinch letter in poor condition with considerable loss at folds; the remainder of the archive in generally sound condition. Vp, 1754-1828
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Additional Details

Samuel Cooper (1725-1783) was the pastor of the Brattle Street Church and an important figure in revolutionary Boston. The earliest and most important document in this collection is a five-page letter which Cooper received from his brother-in-law Thomas Bulfinch dated London, 27 August 1754. Bulfinch had just arrived in London to study medicine under the King's physician Frank Nicholls, and his letter is filled with detailed description of the city and the lectures he had attended. He also describes performances by the great actor David Garrick at length: "Those two plays were too moving for me, for in spite of me, when in that of Romeo he appears at night under [?] Juliet's window, I could scarce repress my emotions." This "pleasant and lively letter" is mentioned in "The Life and Letters of Charles Bulfinch, Architect," page 22.
Also included in the archive are: Receipt issued to Rev. Cooper in 1782 Early transcript of a 1784 Ezra Stiles letter concerning Rev. Cooper's death 9 family letters of Cooper's daughter Abigail Hixon and her children, 1785-1828 and undated, including letters from Montserrat, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Brazil, most with typed transcripts Maritime protest filed by Samuel Cooper Hixon in the Virgin Islands in 1807 An unsigned, undated oration in Latin titled "Oratio Salutatoria."