Handwritten document fragment. [London. 8vo. 1 page, mounted on slightly larger backing paper. Edges irregularly burned away.
$ 156 / 150 €
(92271/BN61316)
Fragment of a document instructing the addressee to "[...] place the same to account at [the jewellers] Perchard & Brook, Merchants, London [...]". - The Royal Exchange burned down on 10 January 1838 in a fire caused by an overheated stove; the blaze was visible from Windsor, 24 miles away. - Browned, inherently fragile, and with tears. Collector's note in ink to letter: "picked up after the Royal Exchange was burnt / 10 Jan". Traces of old mounting on the verso of the backing paper (a letter by the novelist Mary Jean Middlemass, 1833-1919).