HANDWRITTEN LETTER (ALS) TO N. & W.W. BILLINGS, NEW LONDON [CT], REGARDING SPERM OIL CANDLES. DATELINED: SHIP "RUSSELL", NEW ORLEANS, 1st FEBRUARY 1828 by Thomson & Grant - 1828

New Orleans, 1828. Original manuscript. Very Good. One page, quarto, integral address leaf. In part: "....It is seldom possible to sell an article for cash from the vessel without an immense sacrifice....this season even the supplies of even such standard articles as sperm oil and candles have been so large, that warehouses rarely had the good fortune to command prompt cash sales. We have sold 46 boxes of your sperm candles at 32 cts....You contemplate another shipment of sperm oil & candles to us....Your last 50 boxes candles were not very good. We took a box to use in our store & find them to give us poor light....[signed] Thomson & Grant." Thumb-size piece torn from integral address leaf, no loss of text. [N&WW Billings Company "was established in 1823 and ceased operations in 1851. During this period the company managed at least twelve whaling vessels which, by the end of business, had made it one of the most successful whaling agencies in New London....In addition, the company operated a soap and candle making business that used oil and spermaceti, etc. taken by their whale ships" (from Mystic Seaport records).].