Group of Three Autograph Letters Signed written by Dr. Benjamin Bowen Carter, China Trader, and the First American to Learn Chinese written on a China Trade Voyage, Canton, New Holland, Australia, and “At Sea”, 1799-1800

Carter. Benjamin Bowen (1771-1831)

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Folio, 18 pages in ink, on 10 loose leaves, these letters were evidently retained copies, apparently excised from a letter-copy book, some marginal defects minor tears and punctures to several leaves, some chipping, but no loss of text. The letters are written on 18th century paper of American manufacture, made by C & E Burbank, of Massachusetts. See Gravell, A Catalogue of American Watermarks 1690-1835, 30, figs 124-125. Three retained copies of letters by Benjamin Bowen Carter a Rhode Islander who studied Chinese in Canton and Europe and promoted the study of Chinese in America. Carter is said to be the first American to learn to read, speak and write Chinese. Carter is also, according to some scholars, America?s first Sinologist. Carter also employed his linguistic skills in aid of American diplomacy in China at the time. Carter wrote these letters while engaged as a doctor and supercargo aboard the Ann & Hope, a China Trade vessel owned by his brother-in-law Nicholas Brown?s firm Brown and Ives. Carter undertook a series of five voyages to China for Brown and Ives, the letters offered here were written on Carter?s and the Ann & Hope?s second voyage to China which lasted from August 1799 to August 1800. Carter kept a series of four logbooks aboard the Ann & Hope between 1798 and 1800, all of which are currently held at the Rhode Island Historical Society along with most of Carter?s surviving manuscripts. The letters are frank and revealing about Carter?s character and views written both aboard the ship Ann & Hope and also while in China, covering the voyage, the international scene in Canton, the citizens of Providence, and more. Carter criticizes and disparages his hometown of Providence and especially its inhabitants. Carter praises the international and cosmopolitan nature of life in Canton where he seems to have been very happy. Benjamin Bowen Carter was the son of John Carter, printer and journalist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1745. After an apprenticeship with Benjamin Franklin, Carter moved in 1767 to Providence, Rhode Island and began work with the Providence Gazette, the weekly newspaper operated by William Goddard with his sister Mary Katherine Goddard, and their mother, Sarah Goddard. When William Goddard moved to Philadelphia in 1768, Carter purchased the Gazette, producing the paper until near his death in 1814. From 1773 to 1779, Carter partnered with William Wilkinson, and the press operated under the name Carter and Wilkinson. From 1772 until 1792 Carter served as the first Postmaster of Providence Commissioned by his former employer, Benjamin Franklin, who was Postmaster-General). During the Revolutionary War, he served on the Committee of Correspondence. In 1769, John Carter married Amey Crawford (1744-1806), daughter of Captain John Crawford of Providence. They had twelve children, nine of whom survived into adulthood. Ann Carter, their eldest daughter, married Nicholas Brown of Providence (they were the parents of John Carter Brown). Their eldest son, Benjamin Bowen Carter, studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush and practiced medicine for a short time in Connecticut. He spent most of his career as a doctor and supercargo for the Brown family on many China trade voyages, on the ship Ann & Hope. Carter was the first American to learn to read, write and speak Chinese which he learned while in Canton. Carter was born in Providence on December 16 1771 and proved himself to be an excellent student as a boy. He entered Rhode Island College in 1782 at the age of just eleven, was instructed in languages and in the arts and sciences, and received a bachelor?s degree in 1786. He remained at Rhode Island College where he obtained his master?s degree in 1789. Carter then studied medicine at Rhode Island College for two years (1789-1791) and then enrolled at the Medical College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania Medical School) and Pennsyl.

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• Titre: Group of Three Autograph Letters Signed written by Dr. Benjamin Bowen Carter, China Trader, and the First American to Learn Chinese written on a China Trade Voyage, Canton, New Holland, Australia, and ?At Sea?, 1799-1800
• Langue: anglais
• Reliure: No Binding
• État de l'article: Good