1825 - Letter between an American merchant in New York and the largest America trading house in China

New York City, 1825. Envelope or Cover. Very good. This one-page, stampless folded letter measures 15" x 9.75" unfolded. It was sent by William R. Talbott from New York City on 15 October 1825 to Edward A. Russell in Canton, China. The letter was favor carried on the Ship Splendid. Docketing shows that it was received, via Lintin, in Canon on 12 April 1825.

The letter addressed a cargo of shirtings that Talbot sent Russell & Company in hope of returning with a cargo of silk and ginger preserves. The letter reads in part:

"Enclosed please find Invoice & Bill of Two Cases and one Bale of Shirtings which you will please receive & dispose of to best advantage & remit me the proceeds in such Silks as you may think best, or if freight is to be had low you can ship Ginger preserves of the cheap kind. These goods are sent mearly on trial I do not know whether they will answer but hope they may. They had better be sold as soon as possible for the most they will bring . . ." (The invoice and bill are no longer present.)

. Lintin Island, located just out of the reach of Imperial Chinese officials between Canton and Whampoa, was the major opium smuggling used by European and American ships transporting the drug to China from India and the Levant.

Shirtings were utilitarian linen or cotton cloth everyday shirts worn by lower-class laborers.

Talbot, who worked out of both Canton and New York City, was one of the first American merchants to become involved in the Old China Trade. At the time of this letter, he, his brothers, George and Charles, and their associate, Oliver H. Gordon, were heavily engaged in the China trade. Russell & Company was established in 1824 by Samuel Russell (who had been trading with China since 1818 and living in Canton since 1819) and Phillip Ammidon (who had been in China three years longer). They, following successful British firms, surreptitiously added opium to their trading inventory and soon became the largest American company in China. Interestingly, although Talbot was once mistakenly banned by China for short period of time as an opium smuggler, he was one of the few Canton merchants that never engaged in drug sales.

(For more information see Carter's "The 'Empress of China' and the beginning of U.S.-China trade" at The China Project, 23 February 2023, Downs's "American Merchants and the China Opium Trade, 1800-1840" in Winter 1958 issue of The Business History Review, and my article, "Tea, Opium, and the Old China Trade" in Issue 300 of La Posta.)

At the time of listing, nothing similar is for sale in the trade. Talbot and Russell & Company Old China Trade letters were sold in the 2022 Spink and Sons "Opium Wars Collection" Auction (21042)

A fine example of an Old China Trade Letter.

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