NEW-ORLEANS, JULY 14, 1843. DEAR SIR, WE HAVE NOW ARRIVED AT A PERIOD OF THEYEAR WHEN A FEW REMARKS ON THE COTTON TRADE, AND THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THIS STAPLE, WE TRUST MAY PROVE ACCEPTABLE.
New Orleans: 1843. Printed folio sheet, folded to [4] pp, each page 9-1/4" x 11-1/4." Printed on recto of first leaf only, interior pages blank, addressed in ink on last page to Captain J. Keyes, Florence, Alabama. Old folds, address page worn. Blank hole where seal was broken, no text affected. Text clean. Very Good.
The head of the firm, Maunsel White of New Orleans, was an energetic Irish immigrant. He married the daughter of a wealthy Creole merchant allied with Andrew Jackson. Wikipedia says, "White maintained a lifelong friendship with Jackson, for whom he served as a cotton factor from 1826 until Jackson's death in 1845."
White carefully delivers hopeful but cautious news to his clients. He celebrates "the marvellous increase in the growth" of cotton, "resulting in a crop larger by far than any that has preceded it." However, "the next crop will show a considerable falling off. From the onset the season opened unfavorably," because of rains and other weather problems. But "new and extensive channels of trade infused fresh vigor and life into the manufacturing districts of Great Britain." The Letter demonstrates the importance of the South's commercial connection with England.
He reminds his customers of "a subject of great importance, and one which cannot be too frequently impressed upon your mind; we mean the picking and ginning of the staple, the necessity of which is sometimes lost sight of in the desire of sending Cotton early to market." This necessity, of course, would be met with slave labor.
We do not locate this printed letter on OCLC as of November 2025, although OCLC records several items relating to Maunsel White: a letter from Andrew Jackson to White in 1842; the firm's business records, at the University of North Carolina; and a similar letter on the cotton trade from 1841 at the Library of Congress [OCLC 1284917506]. Item #41470
Price: $1,500.00