Approx. 200 pp., handwritten in ink throughout. 10¼x7½, leather-backed marbled boards.
6½ year record of the letters written by Marcus C.M. Hammond, brother of South Carolina politician James Henry Hammond (the man who coined the phrase, "Cotton is King"), who during the first half of the period covered served as governor of the state. The numerous letters provide a splendid glimpse into the Old South before the devastation of the Civil War. A number of the letters are to Marcus Hammond’s brother, the governor, as on Nov. 6, 1842, when he wrote describing a piece of property, a grand plantation of the antebellum days: “…I am scarcely competent yet to form a correct opinion of its productive capacity if treated judiciously. There are altogether at least 1250 acres… I can opine a scattered plantation of some 5 or 600 acres of any tolerable land upon which 1000 pounds of cotton or 40 bushels of corn may be ??? by careful attention and an occasional ?? of manure. The grounds are well watered: a large creek on one side… The houses are fair, the dwelling a two story, two rooms below each 20 by 30 & a passage between 15 feet wide, 4 good rooms over & an ample garrett above, a portico in front which looks out nearly S.W. & a back piazza 55 feet long and 14 wide. A beautifully shaded and level yard containing an ample number of buildings, smoke house, negro houses, &c…” On Sept. 24, 1843, he writes about the proposed sale of a slave girl, “I saw a letter…from Dr. Jones of Madison on the subject of my girl… I did not say that the matter would be “consummated” to his satisfaction in 3 or 4 days but that I would try to persuade the girl to go willingly then Mrs. Hammond would gladly consent to the sale, if I could succeed at all it would be in 3 of 4 days, & if I could not, the matter was at an end. The girl could not be persuaded to go with the doctor to Savannah & I dropped the question of sale, she may find herself picking cotton before many weeks as she does not suit me in the house nor would she suit any one for a house servant…” A very important letterbook revealing the lives of the landed gentry of the American South. Provenance: A private California collection.