Fine Autograph Letter to W. B. Tiffin (John, 1787-1863, Cloth Manufacturer and Art Collector)

saying that he had written before "from Amsterdam announcing that it was my intention to forward to your care the few prints & drawings which I had been able to assemble together up to this time, and I have now to say that they are this day shipped by the Batavier Steam Vessel which will arrive in London tomorrow, directed to you. - the shipping charges and freight are paid, & the Bill of Lading is included. I have counted the number, & believe the following will be nearly accurate: in an old Blank paper book - 205, Old Large Portfolio - 68, Small one new Green Colour - 66 = 338 part are coloured and there are two at least English - but the duty is so small that it is not worth while to make any difficulty about the count. The package is wrapped in Oil Cloth, and also contains a quantity of old white paper for printing facsimile Etchings upon, a vellum bound book with blank paper for same purpose, two Volumes 8vo of Ploos Van Amstels Catalogue and two parts 8vo of the Catalogue & Gallery at the Hague with Outlines. You will be pleased to pay the duty and Charges in England, and in the event of its being convenient for you to clear them before Saturday I should be very glad to hear that they are safe, by a Letter to the same address I gave you before - it will be in time if sent by Port on Saturday directed Poste restante Frankfurt. You must be good enough to keep an account of all the Postages both ways, & if m y debt should amount to any sum worth while I will order it to be paid to you. I rather wish to have your opinion generally of the drawings sent, as some of them appear to me clever and spirited, the price given of course put it out of my power to get anything fine. The Everdingen in bistre being the only extravagant affair, and though I gave somewhere about four guineas for it, I like it less than some of the others. You will find amongst the prints, two curious etchings by Beyham and three by Adrian Vandevelde - the rest are principally sad trash. Copies &c bought merely as an excuse for trouble giving in looking for better things. The cut plate of Paul Potter I think is a variation, being after a curious impression I have which is previous to an alteration in one of the hind legs of the cow coming down the hill..." he continue to describe his purchases and then says that he is leaving "today for Antwerp by the Steam Vessel, on our return to Brussels, where I have left a little travelling Carriage, & after remaining a day or two, I propose to proceed leisurely up the Rhine. I mentioned having written to Munich directing the purchase of some lots at a sale now going on there - and I desired the person to write directed to your care with the particulars - these you will be kind enough to send when I am able to give a direction. I feel at present very uncertain whether to go into Germany from Frankfurt or continue the Rhine to Basle, and then across Switzerland & the Simplon into Italy - in this event it would be impossible to return to England before the Summer & next year which seems a long absence. The weather is cold & wet here, but it has not inconvenienced us hitherto. I worked hard both in Paris & Amsterdam & have brought away a Catalogue of all the Dutch School at the latter place both what are described in Bartsch & the masters omitted, and I run them quite aground in Paris, & got into the unmounted & not arranged portion, so that if I fail in assembling information upon this subject it is not for want of pains - and I have arranged at Amsterdam that Mr Gibbon is to have a private room under the roof of the Museum to work in at making facsimiles, and feel confident that this portion will be well done..." with a postscript that he "has seen the true Beyham two Goats heads at Amsterdam - a difft plate from the copy he bought...", 3 sides 4to., with autograph address leaf with a fine Ship Letter postmark, Rotterdam, 13th July Sheepshanks collected pictures, mainly by British artists, and in 1857 presented his notable collection to the nation. These are at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. SS De Batavier, launched in 1827 was an early steamship which served on the Rotterdam to London line of the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (NSM). As such she was in news quite often, but the Batavier also appeared in fiction and non-fiction. The Batavier is the location of a chapter of Thackeray's Vanity Fair. Allaert van Everdingen (1621-1675) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker in etching and mezzotint. Adriaen van de Velde (1636-1672) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman and print artist. His favourite subjects were landscapes with animals and genre scenes. The Simplon Pass is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. Between 1801 and 1805 the Simplon Road was constructed by the engineer Nicolas Céard at the direction of the emperor in order to transport artillery pieces through the pass between the Rhône valley and Italy. Since then, the pass has been usable by road vehicles: first post carriages, replaced early in the twentieth century by post buses.