Dec 04, 2003 - Sale 1988

Sale 1988 - Lot 319

Price Realized: $ 2,530
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 5,000
(NOOTKA SOUND CONTROVERSY.) Declaration and Counter-Declaration . . . between His Britannick Majesty's Ambassador, and the Minister of the King of Spain. 6 pages. 8vo, later marbled wrappers, front wrapper detached; browning to the last page. London, 1790
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Only the Streeter copy of this rare treaty has appeared at auction, selling for $425 in the Streeter Sale and $4000 in sale of the library of Irving Whitmore Robbins, Jr.
"The Declaration is signed by Le Comte de Floridablanca and the Counter-Declaration by Alleyne Fitz-Herbert. In this preliminary document Spain agrees to indemnify the owners of British ships seized by the Spaniards at Nootka Sound in 1789, but defers any question of sovereignty. The convention was the outgrowth of the seizure of the British ship Iphigenia in May, 1789, and of the Spanish naval expedition’s later taking formal possession of the port while under the command of Lt. Jose Martinez. The seizure of Colnett’s ship, the Argonaut, followed in July"--Streeter Sale 3487; Sabin 16197 (the Madrid edition).