Items
Details
Title
Narrative of a voyage to Canton [manuscript], October 26, 1803.
Description
[6] leaves, folded with text on all four pages ; (fol.)
Associated name
Cleveland, Richard, author.
Summary
Page 5 shows the importance of Shakespeare on not only American culture but Spanish society as well.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Genre/form
Manuscripts (documents)
Item Details
Call number
FAST ACC 271891 (flat)
Folger-specific note
From dealer's description: "The 24 page manuscript recounts in considerable detail the voyage of the Lea Byrd from Hamburg, Germany to Macao, China in the year 1801-03. It was meant as a letter to Cleveland’s father in Massachusetts and includes a very personal apology that reads “This I trust is sufficient apology for undertaking a smuggling voyage.” One of the episodes of the voyage that is recounted by Cleveland is the difficulty the vessel had in Valpariso, Chile where it met with threats of confiscation by the port’s Commandant. After many visits by William Shaler the Captain of the Lea Byrd to the Commandant and letters of protest dispatched to Santiago where the Governor of the Spanish colony lived, an agreement was reached that would allow the ship to leave port. In a statement that was prepared by the Cleveland that included information about the purpose of the voyage and the nature of the cargo, Captain Shaler was asked to swear that this statement was true “on a volume of Shakespeare’s Plays presented him by the Governor for that purpose” (p.5). This statement by Cleveland is a startling reminder of the power and authority that Shakespeare’s Works of had on not only American culture but Spanish society as well. In lieu of a Holy Bible, Shakespeare’s Plays became the vehicle by which truth was attested to and trust established between adversarial commercial powers." Ordered from: Daniel DeSimones, D9159, 2017-12-12.
Folger accession
271891