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2 pages, in ink. On 4-page lettersheet 21x14 cm. (8¼x5½"). In French, not translated.

Letter from the man behind the building  of the Suez Canal, a key to world trade and communication in the 19th and 20th centuries, and even unto today. A longtime French diplomat, in 1832 de Lesseps was appointed vice-consul at Alexandria, Egypt, when he first became interested in the plan. The present letter was written while de Lesseps was the French minister at Madrid. In 1854, after retiring from the diplomatic service, he began his efforts to build the canal in earnest, and on April 24th, 1849, almost ten years to the day after penning this letter, the first blow of the pickaxe was given by de Lesseps at Port Said.