Delaplaine, Joseph: [Madison, James]:

$1,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM PUBLISHER JOSEPH DELAPLAINE TO HIS MERCHANT CONTACTS IN NEW YORK CITY, DISCUSSING SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR A MONUMENTAL BIBLE AND ENGRAVED PORTRAITS OF FAMOUS AMERICANS, ... A letter from ambitious Philadelphia publisher Joseph Delaplaine to two of his agents in New York City, discussing arrangements for selling off extra portraits of George Clinton, recruiting subscribers for a fine, extra-illustrated bible, and commenting on other portraits for what his largest work, Delaplaine's Repository of the Lives and Portraits of Distinguished American Characters (1815–1818). The publisher writes to Jacob and Paul Rapelye (or Rapelje), situated at No. 80 Pearl St., in full:"Since I wrote to you a few days ago, I received a letter from W. Killpatrick, mentioning that he had moved to No. 1 Chatham St., and that he was now obliged to 'give up' getting subscribers to the Bible. It is probable, I think, that he cannot attend to selling the Portraits of Mr. Clinton, which are at one dollar each. If this is the case, I scarcely know what to do with them. Can I take the liberty of requesting you to see those persons in Broadway who sell prints + make any contract with them you please for fifty or hundred, and if you think proper you may give any one of them the exclusive privilege of selling them for the City of New York, and such discount as you may choose. Or, if a very large looking glass can be obtained for one or two hundred, I should have no objection to take i

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