[MANUSCRIPT DIARY OF SARAH BOWDOIN DEARBORN, KEPT IN LISBON WHILE HER HUSBAND, HENRY DEARBORN, WAS SERVING AS U.S. MINISTER TO PORTUGAL].
[Dearborn, Sarah Bowdoin]:
Lisbon. July 9, 1823 - July 7, 1824. Over 400 complete pages. Quarto. Original green boards. Spine perished, front board detached, slight wear to extremities. Very good. In a half morocco and cloth box. A previously unknown diary of Henry Dearborn's wife, kept while he was serving as minister plenipotentiary in Portugal. Dearborn (1751-1829) had a distinguished career as an officer in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He served as Secretary of War, collector of the port of Boston, and as a congressman from Massachusetts. In 1822 he was appointed minister to Portugal by James Monroe, a post he held for two years. He was accompanied in Portugal by his wife, Sarah Bowdoin (widow of James Bowdoin, 1752-1811). During her first year in Lisbon, Sarah Dearborn kept no diary, and she explains this fact in the first entry of the present diary. Beginning on July 9, 1823 and continuing through the voyage home a year later, she kept the present daily journal. Entries range in length from one or two sentences to two full pages and more. Almost every entry describes in detail the Dearborns' dinner companions, noting the positions of the men, and the social attributes of the women. The arrival and departure of dignitaries is always noted. The diarist comments on local customs, houses, living arrangements (of both the foreign officials and of the locals), street crime, etc. She was a close observer of the domestic situations of her companions: their children, personalities, education, and general accomplishments. In all, a superb journal, offering a fine insight into the public as well as the domestic life of an American diplomat's family in western Europe in the early 19th century. The journal is completely unknown, having descended in the Dearborn family until the present time.
(Item ID: WRCAM30039) $12,500.00