1847 – Letter from a Philadelphia socialite discussing balls, a visit with Henry Clay, concerts, Parisian fashion, the new custom of using envelopes to mail letters, and a catastrophic shipwreck

Item Details

Philadelphia, 1847, Letter

Very Good

This four-page letter, datelined “Philadelphia, Dec. 10. 1847 / Friday Morning,” was sent by Lydia Leming Smith to her son, James Somers Smith Jr., in New Orleans. It is enclosed in its original envelope bearing a circular 10-cent blue Philadelphia postmark indicating postage had been prepaid. In nice shape. A previous owner’s transcript will be provided.

This newsy and entertaining letter provides a glimpse into the concerns of mid-19th-century high society. It reads in part:

“I sit down to begin a letter to you in the hopes of finishing it by tomorrow. . .. You have not told us anything about Henry Clay and your visit to Ashland in your Louisville letters. . .. Your appetite I presume is very good from the evident satisfaction . . . in writing of the places where you had venison and other good things. It is a good sign in a traveler. . ..

“On Monday eveng. I went to Mrs. Dr. Bell’s to meet Mrs. La Roche, and found a large party – upwards of 80 persons. . .. On Tuesday I went to a grand dance at Mrs. Binney’s. . .. It was a very beautiful party, and very pleasant for those who liked dancing. Mrs. James Rush was there in all the elegance of Parisian dress, with lace at 150 dollars a yard on her. . .. On Wednesday Rundle, Sister, and I went to a concert at the Musical Fund Hall [where] Madam Rico sang, but I did not like her at all.

“Last evng. Mrs Ryerss drank tea with us, and we had a small party to meet her. The Misses Scott, Tilghman and Coxe were the young ladies and we substituted your friends as beaux. . . Tomorrow eveng. Mrs. Bishop and the opera Company give a concert and Bochsa the celebrated harpist is to play. We are going. . .. I have now given you an account of my evenings this week, and I think you will say I have done enough to last for some time which I hope it will. . ..

“This is Henry’s birth-day, and he is to have an Oyster Supper which Fisher and Rundle are going. . .. If Newbold Smith writes letters in the style he talks, you will have a singular epistle. Last evening he talked on just like some of Dickens’ ridiculous stories, describing his landlady, his dancing &c and inventing all as he went on. He said he dressed himself particularly in black supposing of course we had invited him to a clerical party. . ..

“As I can follow the fashion and put my letter in an envelope I will go on and fill my sheet. . ..“I saw by the papers that the President’s Message was printed in St. Louis the day after it was in our papers, by means of the telegraph and express. I suppose you know all about it however by this time. The fine packet Stephen Whitney, form New York to Liverpool, was lost on the coast of Ireland, and only eighteen person saved – nearly 100 perished. They mistook a light and ran on a rocky island. The papers are filled with accounts of the shipwreck, which is one of the most frightful as involving such a loss of life that there has ever been. . ..”

A terrific letter providing a window into the world of the mid-19th-century upper crust.

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