Nov 08, 2018 - Sale 2492

Sale 2492 - Lot 359

Price Realized: $ 1,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 2,000
NOAH WEBSTER. Autograph Letter Signed, to attorney Samuel Fletcher, stating that the partner of his publisher has printed unlicensed copies of his Elementary Spelling Book, requesting that he discover whether any compensation can be had for them, and inquiring about the present disposition of the plates for the book. 1 page, 4to, with integral address leaf; minor soiling and toning at edges, folds. New Haven, 7 February 1838
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Additional Details

"Mr. Atwood, the publisher of my El[ementary] Spelling Book, wrote to me last summer . . . that Mr. Simon Brown was his partner & would continue to publish the book. I learn that Brown . . . has published great numbers, say sixty or seventy thousand; & if so, this has been done without a license & to my injury. It is said Brown has absconded, or gone south & that the plates he used are in the hands of the assignee of Atwood. I wish you . . . to ascertain whether there is any property which can be found to secure me, for this trespass; whether Brown is expected to return & in whose hands the stereotype plates of Atwood are--and whether any person is using them. I wish to put an end to such illegal proceedings . . . ."

From the Collection of William Wheeler III.