Autograph letter signed “Lafayette,” one page, 7 x 9, Paris, August 6, 1805, addressed to Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York. Lafayette speaks warmly of his “obligations to Mr. Parish and family” and advises that his friend David Parish will soon visit the United States, asking Livingston to extend courtesies and introductions among the influential Livingston circle.
Written at a pivotal moment in transatlantic politics and commerce, the letter captures Lafayette’s role as a connector between European mercantile elites and America’s emerging financial and political establishment. Parish would later become a prominent figure in U.S. finance and land development, notably participating in major government loans during the War of 1812, relationships initially cultivated through Livingston’s powerful New York network. A fine intersection of Lafayette, the Livingston diplomatic milieu, and early American finance.
Intersecting folds, scattered creases, and an unevenly trimmed right margin, in a slip case