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[
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de]
Lettre autographe signée de Bakewell Page Bakewell
Pittsburgh, 31 mai 1825
1 p. in-4
EXEMPLAIRE DE LAFAYETTE : “YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF A
SPECIMEN OF OUR MANUFACTURE”
“As a small token of the deep sense we entertain, in common with our
fellow Citizens, of the obligations we owe to your generous valour, to
your undeviating patriotism, and to your entire devotion to the cause of
Virtue and Freedom in both Hemispheres, we request your acceptance
of a specimen of our Manufacture. With sentiments of the highest
respect we are, Sir, most sincerely yours Bakewell Page & Bakewell”
Bakewell’s, the well-known glass manufacturers, had been
founded in Pittsburgh by the Englishmen Benjamin Bakewell
and Benjamin Page in 1808 and specialized in producing high
quality engraved glassware. They were to be joined by Joseph
P. Bakewell who in 1825 took out a patent for a glass-pressing
machine, which for the first time enabled mass-production and
so Revolutionised the industry. Having already supplied President
Madison with a service of engraved glassware, Bakewell’s
were one of the comparatively few American firms to cash in
on Lafayette’s visit, much of the souvenir china-ware being
otherwise made in England. Lafayette’s visit to the factory in
May 1825 brought them to international attention. Lafayette was
presented with two cut-glass vases, one showing a view of La
Grange, the other the American Eagle ; a facsimile of the thank-
you letter he wrote being now in the Archives of the
Historical
Society of Western Pennsylvania
(Gottschalk,
Guide
, p.196). One
of these vases recently fetched over $250,000 at Christie’s. Three
tumblers were embellished with sulphide portraits and presented
to the marquis de Lafayette in 1825 by fellow Frenchman and
Pittsburgh resident Felix Brunot. The engraved boughswith leaves
and flowers frame Masonic symbols on one side and Lafayette’s
interlaced initials on the other (cf.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
,
Accession Number : 2001.94)
“After having devoted the day on his arrival at Pittsburg to public
ceremonies, the general wished to employ part of the next day in
visiting some of the ingenious establishments which constitute the
glory and prosperity of that manufacturing city, which, for the variety
and excellence of its products, deserves to be compared to our Saint
Etienne, or to Manchester in England. He was struck by the excellence
and perfection of the processes employed in the various workshops
which he examined ; but that which interested him above all was the
manufacture of glass, some patterns of which were presented to him,
that, for their clearness and transparency, might have been admired
even by the side of the glass of Baccarat” (Levasseur,
Lafayette in
America
, II, p. 183).
1 000 / 1 500
€
240
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de
[Toast 14] Document autographe signé
Buffalo, 4 juin 1825
2 lignes
TOAST PRONONCÉ À BUFFALO. EXEMPLAIRE DE
LAFAYETTE.
TOAST IN BUFFALO. LAFAYETTE’S COPY
“Gal Lafayette’s toast
Buffalo. And may this young city, rapidly improved from its ashes more
and more offer on this shore an example of the republican prosperity
and happiness”
“At twelve o’clock we were within sight of Buffalo ; but retarded
in our progress by violent and contrary wind, we were unable to
enter the port for two hours. Although the town of Buffalo was
almost entirely destroyed by the English, who burnt it during the
last war, we were nevertheless struck with its air of prosperity,
and the bustle in its port (…) After the first ceremonies of the
reception of the national guest by the magistrates and citizens
of Buffalo, we went to snatch a few moments of repose at the
Eagle tavern” (Levasseur,
Lafayette in America
, II, p. 186)
1 500 / 2 000
€
- Toast -
239