ALS in French, signed “A. Bartholdi,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 10.5, Franco American Union Committee letterhead, July 16, 1884. Letter to friend and fellow Statue of Liberty collaborator Georges Glaenzer, in part (translated): "I am in a position to speak of the Franco-American Union, seeing that I have known its story and its difficulties from the beginning. It was the result of a patriotic inspiration, born as a result of the War of 1870. That idea, conceived by a son of Alsace, a volunteer during the war, was enthusiastically greeted and supported by the most eminent, the most upstanding men one could find, the most devoted friends of the United States, those who had proved it already, at the time of the Civil War. You may categorically affirm that our undertaking will resist all low attacks and that the nationality of friend Bartholdi is well certified, seeing that his family has been French since the Treaty of Westphalia; that he is doubly French, having been born such and having to reaffirm his nationality after the War of 1870, during which he was in service the whole time…That Bartholdi has no interest in the Gaget, Gauthier and Co. firm, which is entirely separate from him. That firm, far from having made profits, has taken large losses on the work. That the contract which bound the firm was signed long before its merger with the predecessors of Mondail and Bechet." In fine condition. Accompanied by an English translation. Bartholdi and Glaenzer collaborated extensively during the process of fundraising for, fabricating, and overseeing the permanent placement of the Statue of Liberty.
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