1828 HANDWRITTEN LETTER (ALS), REGARDING A PUBLIC SALE OF WHALE OIL, ADDRESSED TO N & WW BILLINGS AT NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT. DATELINED: PROVIDENCE, JANUARY 9, 1828 by Mallett, E.J - 1828

Providence, Rhode Island, 1828. Original manuscript. Very Good. One page, quarto, integral address leaf, in sepia ink. In part: "...a sale of 10,000 galls W & Fall oil will take place here on Saturday next & if you wish to speculate, I think a good opportunity offers as the oil 'will be sold' [underlined]. All sales at retail for the present are suspended ....[signed] E.J. Mallett." Postmarked, Providence Jan 9. [Bicknell's "History of the State of Rhode Island" describes E.J. Mallett as a Jackson Democrat, "of Huguenot stock and a North Carolinian by birth. Visiting Providence, he married the daughter of Governor James Fenner, in 1820, and engaged in shipping business here until 1829...." He went on to become president of St. Nicholas Bank in New York, Consul-General to Italy, and was appointed a paymaster by Lincoln in the Civil War. (See Bicknell, Vol. 2, p. 772).] [N&WW Billings Company "was established in 1823 and ceased operations in 1851. During this period the company managed at least twelve whaling vessels which, by the end of business, had made it one of the most successful whaling agencies in New London....In addition, the company operated a soap and candle making business that used oil and spermaceti, etc. taken by their whale ships" (from Mystic Seaport records)].