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1782 Rochambeau Ball Invitation w/ Two Related RI Rev War Mss. Yorktown Victory

$ 739.2

Availability: 100 in stock
  • All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
  • Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
  • Item must be returned within: 14 Days
  • Restocking Fee: No
  • Condition: Overall very good, noting some tissue repairs, scattered fold wear, wrinkling, and occasional short tears/separations. Please see all scans.
  • Refund will be given as: Money Back

    Description

    Rochambeau
    Ball invitation (1782), and two related French officer Rev War manuscripts
    Group of three Angell family (of Providence) Rev War ball & social visit / calling notes, all from 1782 and related to our French Allies:
    1)
    Rochambeau
    to Mr. [Brig. Gen.] & Mrs. [James & Mary] Angell.  [Providence,] Saturday, Nov. 16, 1782.  Invitation to the Nov. 18 ball at Hacker's Hall.  No doubt there was much jubilation in these waning days of the war.  [
    Rochambeau
    left Providence at the end of the month for Philadelphia before embarking for France].  Per the
    Providence Gazette
    at the time, this was a "very splendid Ball."
    2)
    Viscount de Fleury
    to the Angells' eldest daughter, Miss Nabby [Abigail] Angell.  Dated "Wednesday"; possibly Nov. 1782.  "A chariot will wait upon her at 6 o'clock this afternoon."  (Sounds like he was planning a late evening if 6pm was still considered the afternoon!)  Abigail Angell (1758-1845) would marry newspaper publisher William Goddard.
    3)
    Count de Vauban*
    to Miss Nabby Angell.  Dated Sunday the 24th; therefore probably Nov. 24, 1782.  Invitation for tea the following evening a 6 p.m.  This one has some interesting characters written along one of the edges of the blank side (from reusing paper) --
    looks like either cipher/code or shorthand
    .  (See final image).  *Presumably Jacques Anne Joseph Le Prestre de Vauban,
    Rochambeau
    's aide-de-camp.
    Each note is composed of a sheet folded in half to make 4 pages.  Some of the pages have some older fold separation mends and reinforcements on the blank interiors but done using older tissue that is falling off in some areas (fairly easy to remove)... fine to leave as is.  Overall Very Good.  Expected folds, wrinkling, and scattered foxing.
    A related invitation to the
    Rochambeau
    Ball (sent to Nabby and Polly Angell) was published in 1924 by RI Historical Society with a little background on the ball (you can find online, not able to post a link here).
    This branch of the Angell family was very well to do.
    Selling as a group, and under the assumption that they were written by secretaries (and are secretarial signatures) but you may get lucky.
    Authenticity & Satisfaction guaranteed.