On offer is a detailed letter written and signed by Edward Abiel Washburn [1819-1881]. Washburn writes from New York to "My dear George Hubert (?)". His letter includes four chatty pages. It seems Hubert (?) has sent Washburn some lyrics for a hymn, for which Washburn is grateful. Throughout the chatty letter, Washburn touches on receiving the "pastoral lyric[s]" for his hymns, his travels, his faith, gossip about community members, the "Catholic spirit", and closes with encouragement for his letter's recipient, stating: "...when 'my stammering tongue' is dumb, I hope young and [genius? generous?] voices like yours will speak more clearly. Yours Cordially, EA Washburn". This letter is a fascinating insight into the brilliant brain of Washburn. BIO NOTES: Edward Abiel Washburn was a Hymn writer, rector, professor. After Harvard, Washburn studied theology at Andover and New Haven, and entered the Congregational ministry. In 1844, having been ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church, he became Rector of St. Paul’s, Newburyport, Massachusetts, where he stayed until 1851. He spent 1851-52 visiting Egypt, Palestine, India and China. He then served as Rector of St. John’s, Hartford, Connecticut (1853-62); Professor Church Polity at the Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Connecticut; Rector of St. Mark’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1862-65); and Rector of Calvary Church, New York (1865-81). In 1871, Washburn was a delegate to the Evangelical Alliance, and in 1872 he visited Spain with Professor C. M. Butler. In 1873, he attended sessions of the Evangelical Alliance in New York, and in 1879, visited Basel, Switzerland. In the summer of 1880, he traveled on horseback in Virginia and North Carolina. Washburn’s works include: Social Law of God, 1874, Christian Faith and Theology (New York: T. Whittaker, 1875), The Life of Christ: The Proof of His Divine Revelation (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1877), and Voices from a Busy Life, edited posthumously by William Wilberforce Newton (New York: A. D. F. Randolph & Company, 1883) The letter measures 8 x 10 flat folded to 8 x 5 inches now. Autograph letters signed E.A. Washburn. Four pages, 8vo. Dated New York 14 July circa 1877 noted in pencil on page 1. Was folded smaller but now a a four page letter and a small piece of paper to glue to an autograph book on top of page four not affecting any handwriting, otherwise, very good.
