[Melvilleana]: Shaw, Lemuel (1781-1861):

$600 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[Autograph Letter, Signed, to American Consul Thomas Aspinwall]. A good letter to Thomas Aspinwall (1786-1876), US Consul in London, from the future Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1830-1860), longtime friend of the Melvill(e) family, and Herman Melville's future father-in-law. After losing his left arm as a command officer in the Siege of Fort Erie, Aspinwall was appointed by Madison to the post of American Consul to London, a post he held from 1816 to 1854. In that capacity he also acted as literary representative for American writers with British publishers and assisted in the acquisition of British and Continental books for interests in the US. In the context of that latter role, Lemuel Shaw writes Aspinwall: "The books which you had the goodness to forward for the Law Library by the Edward are duly received. We feel very much obliged to you for your continued care & attention to our interests. We are desirous of having all the original reports forwarded from there as they are published in volumes and intend to keep a [indecipherable] fund for that purpose, in London. As we are apprehensive that it will give you too much trouble to attend to this subject personally, we think it may be safely done by giving a standing order to some honest bookseller to send us the works by regular ships... If you think this a safe and convenient arrangement we will thank you to give the necessary directions, and inform us of the name of the bookseller whom you ma

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