A Letter From Religious Figure George Putnam, Praising The Mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch

ALS. 2pg. 7 x 9 . 12 May, 1839. Roxbury, Massachusetts. An autograph letter signed Geo. Putnam and addressed to N.I. Bowditch, the son of famed mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838), who had died a year earlier. In the letter, Putnam lavishes both the younger and elder Bowditch with great praise after reading the sons memoir of his father. : I have devoured the contents at once notwithstanding the crowding + imperative engagements of Saturday night + Sunday. Your fathers name has for some time been making its way to the very head of my saints calendar. I venerate + love his memory as truly + dearly as any one can who was almost a stranger to him living. I am indebted to him for higher ideas of integrity + worth. He has lived for me I realize that, he has, as truly tho very differently, as for you. I am wiser for the time at least, better for his having lived + died, + found worthy memorialists. I have now, I believe, all the memorials of your fathers life+ I value them as among the choicest of my literary treasures. The letter is on green paper with mailing folds, and is in very fine condition.