Document Signed (“Washington Irving”), partially printed and accomplished in manuscript, 1 p, 4to, New York, July 19, 1853, acknowledging the donation of a book on behalf of the Astor Library, also signed by Library Superintendent Joseph Cogswell, page lightly creased and thumbed, laid down to larger mount.

Washington Irving’s association with John Jacob Astor began in 1834 when the magnate approached him about writing a history of his fur trading colony in the northwest, Astoria. At Astor’s death, Irving was named an executor of the estate, and served as the first chairman of the Astor Library, a forerunner of the New York Public Library. This document acknowledges William Gowans’ gift of a new translation of Rochefoucauld’s Moral Reflections, Sentences and Maxims and a large paper edition of Allan Ramsay’s The Gentle Shepherd.