[WOODBINE (Frank) ed.]
Correspondence from Wood Nook
AN 18th-CENTURY TOUR OF AMERICA
The inscription reads: “Mr Maude’s letters from America. Their publication was commenced in The Patrician. The mss. are at Moorehouse near Wakefield.” The inscription on the accompanying envelope identifies the author as John Maude, who published A Visit to the Falls of Niagara in 1800 (1826).
The letters, some of which are to his brother (known only here as D.M.), recount Mr Maude’s 1793 visit to America where he hoped to make his fortune. His first letter from America is dates 4 October 1793 in Baltimore. He mentions that his ship was stopped and boarded by the English at Chesapeake Bay which delayed them by two days. He provides a description of the bay and mentions that his plans are in disarray due to the outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia. He describes the country around Baltimore and visited Abingdon, Havre de Grace and Hartford. He compares Pennsylvania, to Maryland and New Jersey and gives a character sketch of Baltimoreans. He also visits, Trenton, New Jersey and New York which he believes “has to be sure but just entered her career of gaiety …”
Rare. We locate a single copy at the Buffalo and Erie Count Public Library.
