East India Company. Group of printed and manuscript documents, 17th-19th century
Sold for £420
[East India Company]. Printed document signed, 19 January 1687, assigning the wages of Christopher Brewster of the East Indiaman Mary to his nominated attorney ?Mrs Sarah Barber?, signed by Brewster and [?]Thomas West (later pencil docket: ?Paymaster, East India House?), contemporary ink dockets verso, slightly marked and frayed, foolscap (30.5 x 19.5 cm), together with:
Three autograph documents signed by Thomas Blanchard as chaplain of the Bengal Presidency, Fort William, Calcutta, 17 April 1790, each a true copy of the christening or baptism certificate of a child of Sir Robert Chambers (1737-1809), then acting chief justice, Supreme Court of Judicature, Fort William, each a single bifolium, 4to (22.5 x 18.5 cm),
Manuscript note on the composition of British forces at the Siege of Pondicherry, 30 July 1793, headed ?Head Quarters near Pondicherry, 30th July 1793. The Army is Brigaded according to the following arrangement?, written on a fragment of a letter by another hand, single sheet (18.5 x 11.5 cm),
Printed document signed by Sir Colin Campbell (1792-1863) as commander-in-chief, India, Allahabad, 5 July 1858, commissioning John Hale Smyth major, retaining seal, creased from folding, single sheet (28.5 x 44.5 cm), and 15 other items, including clipped signature of Sir Elijah Impey (1732-1809), brief manuscript log headed ?Route from Agra to Hyderabad? (watermarked 1806, single bifolium, 4to), manuscript memorandum on army uniform (breeches) dated 1789, and several printed reports on prices for drysaltery goods
(Qty: approx. 20)
Provenance (fourth item): Maggs Brothers, July 1966 (purchase note laid in).
This may be the Christopher Brewster who was supercargo on the East Indiaman Nassau on its 1697-9 journey to Amoy, bringing back an important collection of botanical watercolours (see Dominic Winter, 7 November 2018, lot 129; Jarvis & Oswald, ?The collecting activities of James Cuninghame FRS on the voyage of Tuscan to China (Amoy) between 1697 and 1699.? Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London vol. 69.2 (2015), pp. 135?153). He was also supercargo on the 1703-7 voyage of the Stretham to Canton, which occurred ?at a pivotal phase in the emergence of the Sino-British tea trade? (Ellis & others, Empire of Tea, chapter 3, unpaginated).
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Sold for £420
[East India Company]. Printed document signed, 19 January 1687, assigning the wages of Christopher Brewster of the East Indiaman Mary to his nominated attorney ?Mrs Sarah Barber?, signed by Brewster and [?]Thomas West (later pencil docket: ?Paymaster, East India House?), contemporary ink dockets verso, slightly marked and frayed, foolscap (30.5 x 19.5 cm), together with:
Three autograph documents signed by Thomas Blanchard as chaplain of the Bengal Presidency, Fort William, Calcutta, 17 April 1790, each a true copy of the christening or baptism certificate of a child of Sir Robert Chambers (1737-1809), then acting chief justice, Supreme Court of Judicature, Fort William, each a single bifolium, 4to (22.5 x 18.5 cm),
Manuscript note on the composition of British forces at the Siege of Pondicherry, 30 July 1793, headed ?Head Quarters near Pondicherry, 30th July 1793. The Army is Brigaded according to the following arrangement?, written on a fragment of a letter by another hand, single sheet (18.5 x 11.5 cm),
Printed document signed by Sir Colin Campbell (1792-1863) as commander-in-chief, India, Allahabad, 5 July 1858, commissioning John Hale Smyth major, retaining seal, creased from folding, single sheet (28.5 x 44.5 cm), and 15 other items, including clipped signature of Sir Elijah Impey (1732-1809), brief manuscript log headed ?Route from Agra to Hyderabad? (watermarked 1806, single bifolium, 4to), manuscript memorandum on army uniform (breeches) dated 1789, and several printed reports on prices for drysaltery goods
(Qty: approx. 20)
Provenance (fourth item): Maggs Brothers, July 1966 (purchase note laid in).
This may be the Christopher Brewster who was supercargo on the East Indiaman Nassau on its 1697-9 journey to Amoy, bringing back an important collection of botanical watercolours (see Dominic Winter, 7 November 2018, lot 129; Jarvis & Oswald, ?The collecting activities of James Cuninghame FRS on the voyage of Tuscan to China (Amoy) between 1697 and 1699.? Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London vol. 69.2 (2015), pp. 135?153). He was also supercargo on the 1703-7 voyage of the Stretham to Canton, which occurred ?at a pivotal phase in the emergence of the Sino-British tea trade? (Ellis & others, Empire of Tea, chapter 3, unpaginated).
