Jun 21, 2018 - Sale 2483

Sale 2483 - Lot 66

Price Realized: $ 2,860
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
A SOLDIER-POET TARLETON, BANASTRE. Fragment of an Autograph Letter Signed, "B.T.," to "Juan[?]" (lacking salutation), sending a comic original poem in 18 lines. 1 1/2 pages, 4to, written on the recto and verso of a single sheet; upper edge trimmed with likely loss of salutation and date. Np, nd

Additional Details

"What rhimes are arrived from the Garden of Hattor . . . / Alas! then poor rhimester jog on in your course / You may yet compose songs to make old women hoarse . . . / Tho' your verse can't amuse us, your prose will give us pleasure."
The letter continues: "Indeed Juan[?], your correspondence . . . is not equal to your other productions. What amusement or occupation deprives you of your ordinary vivacity. . . . I . . . have only time to write the date."
Banastre Tarleton ( 1754-1833) was an officer in the British army during the Revolutionary War. As commander of the British Legion (later known as Tarleton's Raiders) he earned a reputation as an effective and brutal officer. His book, A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, was published by Cadell in 1787.