Mar 31, 2011 - Sale 2241

Sale 2241 - Lot 299

Price Realized: $ 2,160
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
BOLÍVAR, SIMÓN. An open letter to the Gran Colombia legislature, offering his resignation as president. [2] pages, 14 x 9 1/2 inches, on half of a folded sheet; slight separation at fold, very minor dampstaining and stitch holes along center fold, and a lone small worm hole. Caracas, February 1827
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Denying any grand ambition or lust for greater power, Bolívar invokes George Washington as an example of a truly selfless statesman ("En vano el ejemplo de Washington quiere defenderme"). With the dream of a unified South America starting to crumble and Bolívar himself an increasingly divisive presence, he asks permission to await his quiet death in the peace of his home: "Pocos dias me restan ya: mas de dos tercios de mi vida han pasado: que se me permita, pues, esperar una muerte oscura en el silencio del hogar paterno." Bolívar's resignation was rejected, and within eighteen months he had assumed the dictatorial powers he so vigorously renounced here. See lot 300.
The text begins "Cuartel General Libertador, Caracas, Febrero 6 de 1827=17o, A.S.E. el Presidente de la Honorable Camara del Senado. Excmo. Señor. En ninguna circunstancia era tan necesaria á la República la augusta autoridad del Congreso," and is signed in type by Bolívar. This address had a contemporary newspaper appearance, so the text is known to historians, but this separate printing appears to be extremely scarce. Not in Palau, Sabin, or WorldCat. Only one other copy traced since 1957, an inferior copy offered by another auction house with a $20,000-$30,000 estimate.