Other countries continued... Egypt Early Letters continued... Lot Symbol Lot Description CV or Estimate 5020 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1836 (Nov 25): Entire letter from Thomas Waghorn written from Alexandria, Egypt to Sir John Phillipart, Editor of the Naval & Military Gazette, endorsed "Single Letter" at top, with concave "MALTA" handstamp in black where disinfected and resealed with partial 'Malta Lazaretto' red wax seal alongside Thomas Waghorns' personal red wax seal. Rated "3/2d." for a single letter on arrival with London cds in black (Feb 6, 1837). Fascinating contents asking for a Naval position as Lieutenant "The fact is that I would sooner be Lieut. in the Royal Navy than receive anything else" - his desire was realised some five years later in March 1842 (see Sidebottom, page 95) - and extolling his own virtues "(I) receive public thanks from the Merchants of England and India for his services to bring about the Red Sea steam communication and did, last July, accomplish transit of the Mail between Falmouth and Bombay in 63 days....". Another fine and scarce entire from Waghorn (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 250.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5021 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1837 (March 1): Entire letter written and signed by George G. Wheatley, Waghorn's Agent at Falmouth, addressed to Smith, Elder & Co. at Cornhill, London, with FALMOUTH despatch cds in red (March 1) and London arrival cds (March 3) in red on reverse, rated "1s." to pay; with fine content: "I did not hear from Mr. Waghorn by the last Packet "Firefly" - the number of letters received through him may be roughly guessed at from ten twelve hundred - those through the Consulate about a thousand - We cannot expect another Steamer for a month, the "Blazer" having relieved the "Firefly" and will be kept out at Malta". Also further content on the West Indian sailing of the "Opussum" and the cost of the crossing - £35 - however the bedding had to be purchased privately. Full transcript with the lot. Scarce and most unusual (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 150.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5022 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1837 (May 3): Entire letter from Plymouth to London, written by a Major McCallum from the Marine Barracks to his Agents in London, struck with "Plymouth" despatch cds in red and charged "11d." due on arrival; with fine content "I have a son in India, have sent him letters by the Mediterranean Mails via Malta and Alexandria, postage charged at 2/10d., I am much afraid never reached him as I observe an advertisement from Mr. Waghorn's Agent at Alexandria desiring all postage to Bombay to be paid to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co....". Note at the top of the letter states "8 May, sent Waghorn's prospectus - will forward any letters he may send him". A fine insight into the importance of Waghorn's Agency (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 100.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5023 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1837 (Sept 2 and Oct 7): Copy of a long entire letter to Thomas Waghorn in Cairo from one of his London employees, a Mr. H.P. Mills, asking for a better position within the Company having refused "a most advantageous offer from the Peninsular Steam Navigation Co. whose magnificent steamers now convey the Government and East India Mails as far as Gibraltar...I am indeed truly anxious to leave London". Inevitably the reply from Waghorn in Cairo (Oct 7) was a disappointment to the young man: "you are bold enough to state that your present salary is inadequate...this letter is to inform you that you are to leave my service from this day...I have written to Mr. Norton to pay you what is due to you". A fine and unusual pairing (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (All Images) Currently...CHF 200.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5025 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1838: 'Mr. Waghorn's Letter Book' with manuscript copies of letters sent by Thomas Waghorn during February 1838, including a lost letter claim: "Your letter per 'Berenice' directed to T. Waghorn, Alexandria went on to England by mistake for not having the stamp mark of one of our Agent's on it...for the future be sure to get it marked by my Bombay Agent". Together with a copy of an invoice for the Bombay Courier "My charge for Post Charges to you @ 6d. each on 991 papers = £24 15s. 0d.", further comments include "I spent last night drawing up a document about 'Steamboats on the Nile and Carriages over the Desert... would quicken the Mails by three days" and "the boxes (from India) could be weighed at the Malta Quarantine in the presence of the French Consul...", many of the letters ending with Thomas Waghorn's signature. An extraordinary document of great importance, entirely unpublished and unique. Provenance: Robson Lowe, PH Auctions sale 286-287, London 15 May 1963, ex lot 1; Corinphila, Zurich, sale 213, June 2017, lot 738 (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5) (Image 6) (Image 7) (Image 8) (Image 9) (Image 10) (Image 11) (Image 12) (All Images) Currently...CHF 5,000.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5026 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1838 (Aug 6): Entire letter from Dent & Co. in Canton, China to Thomas Waghorn in Cairo, Egypt thanking Waghorn for forwarding Newspapers, carried by the ship "Sylph" from Canton (Aug 24) to Calcutta, arriving at Kedgeree (Oct 15). Struck on reverse with framed "CALCUTTA / SHIP LETTER / Bearing" in black and rated "13" annas in manuscript; however the inward ship fee was 3 annas and the Inland postage to Bombay with 15 annas. Bombay oval "INDIA" weakly struck in red on obverse indicating the route via Suez and a further 8 annas postage should have been paid. A very rare and most unusual entire. Note 1: It must be presumed that Dent & Co. or Waghorn's Agent (Samuel Smith & Co.) paid the 13 annas, or the letter was forwarded as an enclosure to Bombay and there placed in the Mails. Provenance: Cavendish, Derby, 6 March 2013, lot 327 (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (All Images) Currently...CHF 1,500.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5027 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1838 (Dec 26): Printed entire letter from Cairo carried as an enclosure to Smith, Elder & Co. in London, signed at base and addressed in the hand of Thomas Waghorn, stating that Waghorn & Co's Agency in Cairo will commence in Cairo from Jan 1, 1839 and stating that the firm will have Agents in all the principal ports of the Red Sea, listing of merchandise that would be accepted (including Bullion), and "craving reference to the signatures at foot" with both Waghorn's and also the signature of Mr. George K. Gliddon empowered to act for him in Egypt. Edge wear but extremely rare, believed unique. Provenance: Schwarzenbach, Zurich, 10 May 1985, lot 1668 (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 1,000.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5028 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1839 (April 20): Entire letter from Liverpool addressed to Thomas Waghorn in Cornhill, London charged at 11d. postage with 'Liverpool' cds in red (April 20) and London arrival, the contents being a copy of the Petition to Parliament (very much in Waghorn's favour: 'last month our letters by a Private Agency' (Waghorn) arrived 'several day's earlier than the Govt. despatches') from the 'Liverpool East India Association' and a letter of appreciation: 'the thanks of this Meeting be presented to Mr. Waghorn for his exertions in the cause of Steam Navigation with India'. Historic and rare letters. Provenance: Corinphila, Zurich, sale 213, June 2017, lot 739 (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (All Images) Currently...CHF 500.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5030 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1840 (Jan 6) - 1841 (Feb 23): The "Day Book" of Thomas Waghorn & Co., beautifully bound in leather with sleeve in same colour of maroon, the spine lettered in gold; containing copies of letters written at Waghorn's Agency in Alexandria to clients and other Waghorn Agents, with a number written and signed by Waghorn himself. Many of the letters refer to the establishment of the Mail and the day to day running of the service, with Mail arrivals and departures noted, transit times, delays on the service, reports of Steamships breaking down etc. A three page letter of 1840 (Oct 6) in Waghorn's own hand includes "communication from Egypt to India was opened by me. Captain Lyons has run away (I cannot find a better expression) to hide...and it is impossible for him to state why he ran away leaving the mail and jeopardising passengers. The Mail in question has now gone and the passengers are still locked up in Cairo. You will please wait upon Mr. Secretary Maxwell of the East India House and read thus far of this letter, with the addition that I consider mails are even safer now as ever they were provided they come to my care and I will sooner lose my life than permit communication to stop by any such direct means as Captain Lyons has used". A further letter of 1840 (Oct 17) reads "there is no communication through Egypt except through us and you will be pleased upon receipt of this to treble our charges on letters, and newspapers we will not take at all, because our Mr. Waghorn says damn the Newspapers, let them go by the Cape, the letters being charged treble will go by way of Egypt. Our Mr. Waghorn says now is the time to make money...You are to put an advertisement in the Times that Waghorn & Co. have trebled their postage in order to pay their way to smuggling letters to India and you are hereby warned not to take any letter which he is responsible for unless it is paid treble by French Steamer only. All this to be attended to and notice given out to the Merchants etc. forthwith. Tell them we don't care whether they send them or not and that no letter, through Briggs even, can pass without they are paid first through our offices in London". The entire correspondence is transcribed and bound into the volume, last few pages of the originals are water stained and defective but nonethless this remains a unique, important and hitherto largely undocumented volume of great historical importance. Provenance: Robson Lowe, PH Auctions sale 286-287, London 15 May 1963, ex lot 1 (Image 1) Currently...CHF 2,500.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5031 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1840 (May 30): Letter from Thomas Steel of Waghorn's Office in Chancery Lane, London answering an enquiry and setting out details of "Mr. Waghorn's Egyptian Offices for the Conveyance of Parcels & Papers Service Overland to India and China based at 34 Cornhill - He does not go out nor send any person himself and he only undertakes to convey them to Bombay: an Agent of his resident there then undertakes to convey these across to Madras, Calcutta, China or other destination....His terms to Bombay are: If under 3 lbs. in weight £ 1.10s.". Sold together with a printed receipt from "Egyptian Offices, 34 Cornhill, London" confirming the sending of a deed to India at a cost of £ 1, 1s. 6d. in June 1840. A fine pairing (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 150.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5032 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1840 (June 4): Waghorn's printed circular listing his services, charges and appointed Agents, three full pages (125 x 198 mm.) noting letters for Egypt and beyond, Parcels to India forwarded twice a month, Periodicals to India via France, together with a list of Waghorn's Agents in the British Isles (5), Europe (12) and Egypt and the Far East (6). Fresh and very fine (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 120.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5033 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1841 (May 4): Letter to Thomas Waghorn written from Alexandria by the Forwarding Agent's Briggs & Co., stating that the "Directors of the Peninsular & Oriental Company will not let be in our power to put the 'Lotus' at your disposal" at the terms suggested, and that the 'Lotus' will sail for Atfe on friday next and the rate of fares will be published shortly; together with draft proposals for Hill & Co. "to transport through Egypt from the ship at Alexandria to the ship at Suez, all the passengers" for the P&O or East India Company Steamers and the charges thereby (first class passengers at £14 each for the journey to include 300 lbs. weight of luggage). Also a retained copy of a December 1841 letter from Waghorn to Robert Peel (as Leader of the Commons, thus PM), asking for a private interview for some redress for "first establishing the present Overland Route to India". Furthermore four issues of the "Egyptian State Railways" magazine (1933/34) with a fine and lengthy 'Overland Route' article (the magazines are all annotated with 'Mackenzie Low's' signature) and some cards of the Waghorn memorial at Chatham. Provenance: Corinphila, Zurich, sale 213, June 2017, lot 740 (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5) (Image 6) (Image 7) (Image 8) (All Images) Currently...CHF 500.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5036 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1841 (Dec 18): Entire letter written and signed by Thomas Waghorn from Cornhill to William Ewart Gladstone MP (1809-1898), later Prime Minister on four occasions, soliciting his assistance towards Waghorn's ideal of bringing mail to and from India within 35 days; and listing Mr. Feilden MP for Blackburn and Lord Sandon, MP for Liverpool amongst his supporters and stating that he had also written on this day to Sir Robert Peel for help in Waghorn's scheme. Full transcript with the lot, a fine and rare document (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 200.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5037 cover The Rival Overland Mail Route 1842 (Feb 19): Local entire letter from Woolwich to the Royal Geographic Society in Waterloo Place, London written and signed by Colonel Francis Rawdon Chesney - the Commander of the Euphrates Expedition in 1836. Struck with *T.P. / Woolwich" in black and arrival datestamp in red. The letter is endorsed at right "Colonel Chesney, Commander of the Euphrates Expedition" and internally signed. Note 1: Whilst Waghorn's proposals for an Overland route were never supported by the British Post Office or the Government, the rival Euphrates route was - to the tune of a staggering £ 20'000. The Expedition was wholly unsuccessful as an "Overland Mail" route with both boats used to survey the Euphrates being battered by a hurricane on 21 May 1836. Despite numerous problems, Chesney nevertheless rated the Euphrates route as viable. Note 2: Colonel Francis Rawdon Chesney (1789-1872) was one of the first people, after Jacques-Marie Le Père who mooted the idea when Napoleon was in Egypt, to put forward the creation of a Suez Canal in 1830, an idea thereafter acknowledged by and taken over by Ferdinand de Lesseps with much more success (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 150.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5038 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1842 (May-June): The Mehemet Ali Pasha Medal, three autographed letters sheets, all signed by Thomas Waghorn, with the earliest dated 6 May 1842 to C. Roach Smith stating "I am heart and soul in the cause and beg my name may be put down for £10 10s. (or £21 if necessary) towards the Gold Medal for Mehemet Ali..."; the second letter with original envelope to Revd. Henry Christmas MA, FRS, FSA dated 26 May 1842 stating "The Gold Medal to Mehemet Ali, so long in abeyance, is at length progressing to completion. The facsimiles of the design in wax are now on my table at this Office...the incidental expenses...including your share of the Gold medal to his Highness amount to £5 1s. 6d. which you can remit here.. Lieut.-Colonel the Earl of Cardigan being the highest rank of the Committee..." and again signed by Waghorn at base; the third letter dated 18 June 1842 soliciting the subscribers for payment and to sign the presentation also states "additional medals can be had (each) at £1 11s. 6d. in silver or 15s. in bronze", this being sent to Captain H. Smith RN, and signed by both C. Roach Smith and Thomas Waghorn at base. A fine and rare trio (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5) (Image 6) (All Images) Currently...CHF 850.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5039 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1843 (Jan 18): Letter from Waghorn's office in 34 Cornhill to Smith. Elder & Co. in 65 Cornhill, announcing changes to their charges as a result of the direct Steamer service from Suez to Ceylon and Calcutta being introduced by P&O, which was capable of handling freight more cheaply than the East India Company's service to Bombay. Easily readable, a most informative document illustrating the change in Waghorn's business from Mail to concentrate on forwarding freight. Provenance: Argyll Etkin, London, 1 March 1997, lot 15759 (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 250.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5040 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1844 (April 15): Entire letter from Waghorn's "Egyptian Offices", 34 Cornhill, London franked by 1841 1 d. red tied by Maltese Cross in black and mailed to Cheltenham, with printed form showing Waghorn's charges for Parcels including information on Parcels to Aden at ⅔ the Bombay rate, Books & Printed Paper, Valuables including Jewellery, Insurance, Import Duties in India etc., with list of Agents in five towns in Great Britain, 10 European Agents and 10 in Africa and the Far East. Small hole and some faults but extremely rare (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Get Market Data for [Egypt 8] View Visual Pricing Guide Make Sample Census Currently...CHF 250.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5041 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1845 (Nov 12): Famous note from Thomas Waghorn headed "The following was written Nov. 12 1845 by Thos. Waghorn / The Overland Route... Carlsruhe to Times Office 18½ hours / 587 miles" and initialled by Waghorn at base. Illustrated in "The Overland Mail" facing page 100 with pencil note by John K. Sidebottom "The actual time was 19¼ hours". The note refers to the new Trieste route whereby the India Mail via Alexandria and Trieste arrived in 29½ days - Waghorn himself following the route from Alexandria to Dwino - Innsbruck - Ulm - Brusehall - Mannheim - Cologne - Ostend - Dover - London. Full details of the "Route Race" are given in Chapter XVI in "The Overland Mail" on pages 96-110. Sold together with a note to a client handwritten and signed by Waghorn (11 Feb 1845) stating that "the town of Etna" is now principally renewed or rebuilt under the British and that the whole island has at some long period of time been subject to Volcanic influence (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 350.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5042 cover The Waghorn Organisation 1846 (March 25): Letter sheet, signed at base by Thomas Waghorn, asking a client to let him know when his despatches arrive on the "Virago" (HMS Virago, at this date serving on the Mediterranean Station), as he needs to inform Lord Ellenborough etc. "as they are most anxious for her safety". A fine and attractive letter (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 150.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM 5043 cover 1847: Autographed letter sheet written from 34 Cornhill, London to an unknown recipient, written by a secretary and stating "Pray do me the kindness to accept and keep this likeness of myself, it is a faithful copy of a picture painted by Sir George Hayter H(er) M(ajesty)'s portrait painter presented by me to the London East India & China Association, with the addition only of the Gold Medal presented to me by the Pope, and which I believe is the first ever given by a Pope (his own likeness) to a Protestant...." signed at base by Thomas Waghorn (Image 1) (Image 2) (All Images) Currently...CHF 125.00 Closing..Nov-22, 11:59 PM Previous Page, Next Page or Return to Table of Contents

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