Lot 45: COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE

Autograph letter signed ("J. Fenimore Cooper"), one page bifolium with integral address leaf (7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.; 190 x 130 mm) to Peter Augustus Jay and 9 other prominent individuals from New York City and New York State, Paris, 28 March 1831, introducing Alexis de Tocqueville and another French official for the purposes of inspecting penitentiaries in the United States; ink oxidation causing several small holes in the script and flourish below Cooper's signature, second leaf inlaid to another sheet, short centerfold separation.

Sale, Christie's New York, 14 December 2000, lot 307 (undesignated consignor)

A letter of introduction for de Tocqueville. Cooper, who had been living in Europe since 1826, writes to Peter Augustus Jay, the eldest son of John Jay, and other prominent individuals, that the French government had appointed de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont to inspect various American penitentiaries. "I take the liberty of recommending them and their object to your friendship with the certainty that a desire to do all that is agreeable to a nation with which we formerly entertained so intimate relations, no less than a wish to serve the cause of humanity will insure for them your friendship and council. Will you permit me to hope, that our ancient and personal intimacy may have an additional weight in introducing these gentlemen to your acquaintance." Eighteen months after their arrival in the United States in May 1831, Tocqueville and Beaumont published Du système pénitentiaire aux Etats-Unis et de son application en France, with a view toward prison reform in their country.