ALS, one page both sides, 5 x 8, November 18, 1883. Letter to J. C. Derby. In part: “In your letter to D. A. & Co. you did not distinctly state that the services of Judge Tenney would be without charge, though that was to be inferred from the objections offered to the employment of Browne or Johnston. Hall may not have been an agent of Scribner Sons, but how was it with the old gentleman who was selling the encyclopedia. I did not see Hall but the other did call on me to propose a transfer of the Mss. to Scribner Sons, and dropped the subject when told that you as the representative of Appleton & Co. did not want money in lieu of Mss. The case before the Sup. Court is an appeal from the N. E. circuit court. I do not wish to go into the newspapers as respondent to the ‘champion liar’ or to his disgraced attorney. My letter to you was of course private, but as you were not an Editor it was not deemed necessary to so mark it, to prevent publication. The evidence about the Will has been perpetuated in a court of records and if ever thought needful can be published therefrom. In the meantime please leave me out of the papers.” Framed, with a typed transcript of the letter, so that both sides may be viewed, to an overall size of 12.5 x 9.5. In very good condition, with intersecting folds, scattered toning, rough vertical edge, signature a bit cramped, and a few words of text light due to reduced ink flow.
Struggling to find his footing in postwar America, Davis was offered a cottage on the Beauvoir plantation of writer Sarah Dorsey in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1876. When Dorsey grew fatally ill two years later, she rewrote her will, bequeathing to him all of her capital and property. Convinced that she had been manipulated by Davis, her family sued in an attempt to break the will, with their final case argued before the Supreme Court just nine days before this letter was written. Along with the hassle of this lawsuit, which proved unsuccessful for the family, Davis was fighting to receive royalties for his recently published The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Written with the help of his secretary Major Walthall and Judge W. T. Tenney of New York, the book enjoyed only limited success upon publication, barely making enough to cover the advances paid during its writing. An excellent letter written to J. C. Derby, representative for the book’s publisher Appleton & Co., referencing two major topics of the Confederate president’s final years. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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