[Townsend, General Edward Davis (artist and calligrapher)]: Middleton, Conyers:

$5,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

A LETTER FROM ROME, SHEWING AN EXACT CONFORMITY BETWEEN POPERY AND PAGANISM...BY CONYERS MIDDLETON...LONDON M,DCC,XLI. A remarkable artifact, being an illustrated manuscript transcription of Middleton's work, executed as a diversion by then Captain Edward D. Townsend while stationed in San Francisco with the United States Army's Division of the Pacific, under the command of General Ethan A. Hitchcock. A 2¼-page Preface by Townsend, signed and dated by him at the conclusion in San Francisco outlines the origin and intent of the undertaking, indicating that he was loaned an 18th-century printed edition of the book by General Hitchcock in the course of their casual discussions about religion, and he made the elegant transcription so that he might return the original, retain a copy, and produce "a memento of many pleasant hours in San Francisco...." The manuscript is illustrated with an elaborate pictorial extra-title, and eight illustrations in the body of the work, hors texte, executed with considerable skill in ink and pencil, chiefly of religious subjects. However, one drawing might easily be considered a scene in the western mountains.Edward Davis Townsend (1817–93), an 1837 West Point graduate, had an active and distinguished military career, including service in the Florida War, the Cherokee Removal, and along the Canadian border 1838–41. He transferred to the Adjutant General service in 1846, and was assigned to California from 1851-56. During his eventual assignment to W

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