Books and Manuscripts

Albany, (New York), Saturday Eve, 29 Jan(uary)., no year (likely 1825). One sheet folded to make four pages, 9 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. (248 x 200 mm). Autograph letter, signed by Aaron Burr, to his law and business partner, Thomas Hunt Flandrau: "We arrived, in good condition, at 6 this Eve/Please to enquire when Mr. Emmet will leave town for Washington/city--/Ask Mr Bogardus for the assignment to John Crary Esquire,/of the Mortgage of Hazard Quakenbush--Endeavor also to obtain/Mr Bogardus' Signature to some application to the Court to has-/ten the decision of the Cause of Jackson vs DeLancey, for which/I have the written engagement of Mr Bog'--/It occured to me, after leaving Town, that you had/omitted to notice in our argument, Two points which are in/my memo. 1 The expences of the person attending the Courts at/Albany & Utica--2 The transfer of the Suits at the dissoln. of the partn./adieu A Burr/advise me of miss F'--health"; addressed on verso of integral leaf in another hand, postmark ink stamp, "Albany Jan 30", to same; remnants of original wax seal. Creasing from original folds; residue from old mount on address leaf.

Following his trial and acquittal for treason in 1807, former Vice-President Aaron Burr (1756-1836), with large debts and a tarnished reputation, went into exile in Europe. He returned to the United States five years later, in 1812, and established a successful law firm, practicing in New York City and Albany. In the early 1820s a young and gifted graduate of Hamilton College, Thomas Hunt Flandrau (1801-54), caught his attention, and Burr hired him as a partner in his firm. By surviving accounts, their relationship was acrimonious and lasted only two years until Flandrau terminated it. It is reported that later in his life Flandrau would use Burr as an example of a statesman ruined by his own excessive drinking.