51. Congo / Kongo – Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909) – King of the Belgians and Owner / Absolute Ruler of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.

Collection of four very important and meaningful manuscript letters by Leopold II to his administrator and Foreign Minister of the Congo – Free-State, Baron Adolphe de Cuvelier (1860-1931) with a total of 16 pages filled with Leopold’s instructions on pressing issues regarding a warning about an imminent visit by the Rector of the Mill-Hill Missionaries [probably Herbert Alfred Henry Vaughan (1832 – 1903)] and Leopold’s qualification of the visit of being detrimental to the Congo Free State (″ne travaillent pas pour l’État”). Leopold continues in another letter to talk about the hostile positions of english officials (consuls) and missionaries (″que les consuls anglais et les missionnaires anglais se conduisent bien mal envers l’État”). Interestingly, Leopold also touches on the nuisance of the german press criticizing Belgian Railway Lines and he is of the opinion that this is all happening in order to force the german parliament [″Reichstag”] to finance the building of the Tanganyika Railway [between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma]: (″cherche à effrayer l’opinion [en] Allemagne à propos de mes chemins de fer afin d’obtenir du Reichstag des fonds pour la ligne allemande vers le Tanganika”.

16 pages of MLS, Manuscript Letters (signed) on 10 leaves of Leopold’s official stationery “Château de Laeken” and “Palais de Bruxelles”. Laeken / Brussels, Château de Laeken [Palace of Laeken], 1901 – 1906. The leaves with different sizes (13,5 cm x 9 cm) and (18 cm x 11,5 cm). Excellent condition. Unsigned. Tremendously rare to find original letters by Leopold II on the open market in which the Colonial Free State and the protection against inquisitive visitors is discussed in such clear and instructive fashion. Leopold’s correspondence with Adolphe de Cuvelier shows how he is very much trying to still protect and influence the narrative of his Colonial Slavery Outpost even in the final years of his life.

52. Levy, Arthur Joseph / Zangwill, Israel.

Archive / Collection of more than 350 items, letters, documents, ephemera, pamphlets, manuscript notes, receipts , manuscript letters from the private library of Providence (Rhode Island) lawyer, Arthur (Art) Joseph Levy. The collection includes an important, controversial typescript-essay (8 pages) on Israel Zangwill’s address before the American Jewish Congress at Carnegie Hall on October 14th, 1923 (″Watchmen, what of the Night ?”); with manuscript annotations and remarks on Israel Zangwill’s position “the hopes of Jewry for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine are doomed to disappointment”. The collection includes a plethora of interesting letterheads of jewish organizations and also important documentation of Levy’s contribution to and support for the “Palestine Foundation Fund”, (receipt from Boston, Mass. June 1923). Levy, who was a graduate of Brown and Boston University Law School, practiced law in Providence, Rhode Island and led an active life as a member and leader of several Jewish civic organizations, such as the Jewish Family and Children’s Service, which he established and led for twenty years, Rhode Island Jewish Historical Society, the Temple Beth-El Brotherhood, the Miriam Hospital, the Touro Fraternal Association and the Jewish Home for the Aged of Rhode Island. He was also a prominent member of the American Bar Association, the Brown University Alumni Association and the Brown Club of Rhode Island. Highly regarded as a jurist, he was a member of the Commission to Consolidate State Laws, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Federal Tax Institute of New England and an editor of the Rhode Island Bar Journal. Included in this archive are a group of letters written during World War I discussing his role in the Jewish Welfare Board of the United States Army and Navy, an invitation to a fund-raising dinner for the Jewish Orphanage of Rhode Island, a group of documents and letters discussing the establishment of a Jewish country club in Providence, several documents from the early 1920s concerning the mostly Jewish fraternity Phi Epsilon Pi and several items relating to Levy’s personal life, such as personal letters, bills from clothiers and invitations to social events. (Main source of the description of this archive is the research of our colleague Greg Talbot from The Lawbook Exchange).

Providence (Rhode Island), Cambridge (Massachusetts), New York, 1917 – 1931. Octavo and A4. Two heavy folders with original documents. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear.