Eminent French sculptor (1834–1904) best known for designing the Statue of Liberty. ALS in French, signed “Bartholdi,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, personal letterhead, August 23, 1878. Addressed from Paris, a handwritten letter to French politician and historian Henri Martin from the young sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, fully immersed in the final construction and promotional stages of the Statue of Liberty. In part (translated): "Having learned that you had to go to Paris to your General Council, I think I should remind you of the request that Mr. LaBoulaye [Edouard de Laboulaye initiator of the project] made, since you will have the opportunity to speak to Mr. Waddington. If you could write a warm word to Mr. Girard, the Under Secretary of State, it seems that it would be of considerable importance. You are the only person with whom I dare to speak about this because despite the advice of Mr. Laboulaye and those of my mother, it was impossible for me to take any action. I was not afraid to speak to you about this affair because of the feelings with which you honor me; but that's all I could do, I can’t and I don’t know how to ask for such personal encouragement. I'm going to go to the countryside to spend a few days; I feel completely tired, I need to pick myself up. Encouragement has often failed me; but I am trying to find in my own strength the energy I need to complete the work of the Franco-American Union. We will appreciate its value and influence later. I do not apologize for increasing the number of your petitioners because I am sure that you know how to judge my letter on its true value. I thank you very much from my heart for all the friendship with which you support me. You never let me down. I take a lot of my strength from you, because you are not one of those who waits for things to be successful to support them. Therefore I send you from the heart the expression of my grateful and devoted feelings." In fine condition.
The Statue of Liberty project began on April 21, 1865, when Edouard de Laboulaye, professor of law at the Collège de France and admirer of young American democracy, submitted the idea that France offer the United States a statue symbolizing ‘Liberty Enlightening the World,’ thus sealing the friendship between the two countries. The design came from the young Auguste Bartholdi, distinguished by the creation of his colossal Lion of Belfort. The defeat of France at Sedan, followed by the Paris Commune and the resulting political and financial problems, delayed the project by 10 years.
The statue was to be inaugurated on the centenary of the independence of the United States, on July 4, 1876, but construction had yet to begin at the establishments of the Gaget-Gauthier & Cie foundry in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Bartholdi would have been inspired by his dear mother's features for the statue's face, and the manufacture of the torch fell to Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Financing proved to be an obstacle course, with the appeal for American and French donations being essential. The hand was presented at the Universal Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 and the head was admired at the Champ de Mars, during the exhibition of 1878. Gustave Eiffel, a brilliant designer of iron bridges, was chosen to build the iron framework of the Lady. The 46-meter-high building was completed in July 1884. Bartholdi, after traveling to New York, chose the small island of Belloe's Island to house his masterpiece. She was dismantled piece by piece to be transported by boat to Le Havre on May 21, 1885. She triumphantly entered New York Harbor on June 17th, and the inauguration took place on October 28, 1886, in the presence of American President Grover Cleveland.
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