EARLY LETTERS - EXTREMELY EARLY INGOING COVER TO WEST INDIES...

Hammer

£900

EARLY LETTERS - EXTREMELY EARLY INGOING COVER TO WEST INDIES - HOLLAND TO MARTINIQUE; Very fine 23 Oct. 1664 EL (in Portuguese; typed transcript + translation) from "Amsterdam" to a "Martenicas" (Martinique) merchant “Mr. Jacaob Gubay” - from his son confirming his safe arrival after a 9-week voyage (presumably from Martinique). It is endorsed “Par ami” [by a friend] and “Q.D.G.” [Whom God Preserve] by private ship, and it is too early to have had any postal rate or marking. This is believed to be the earliest recorded letter sent to or from Martinique and one of the earliest recorded ingoing letters from the Continent to the West Indies. Martinique was under French control at this date and its principal export was sugar, which was very expensive in Europe, but a group of 250 Portuguese/Dutch Jewish immigrant merchants – escaping from the Inquisition in Brazil – had been allowed to settle there in 1654. Presumably the Gubays were part of that group? (With relevant research notes.) [Ex Brian Brookes, 2018.]Cross Reference: EARLY LETTERS, FRENCH COLONIES, NETHERLANDS