Mar 10, 2020 - Sale 2533

Sale 2533 - Lot 369

Unsold
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(SAINT BARTÉLEMY.) Group of 5 decrees concerning Sweden's only long-term overseas possession, plus an earlier Swedish trade document. 6 printed pamphlets, from 3 to 18 pages each, all 4to, disbound, condition generally strong. Stockholm, 1745 and 1805-21

Additional Details

Sweden purchased the West Indies island of St. Barthélemy from France in 1784, and sold it back to France in 1878. It was the only overseas possession ever held by Sweden for more than twenty years. The decrees relate to trade in tobacco, wine, and other goods, and are dated 15 October 1805, 22 May 1805, 6 May 1806, 25 September 1811, and 12 March 1821. All are in Swedish, except for an 1811 decree organizing the island's government, printed in parallel Swedish and French. Also included in this lot is an earlier German-language pamphlet granting the Arfwedson family a franchise for Swedish trade in the West Indies: "Thro Konigl. Maj:t gnadiges Privilegium zur Einrichtung einer Handlung und Schiffahrt auf America, vor die Kaufleute Abraham und Jacob Arfwedson & Compagnie." 8 pages. Stockholm, 1745.