Rutledge, Edward, Signer of the Declaration of Independence from South Carolina

Autograph letter signed ("Ed. Rutledge"), 2 pages on a bifolium (9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.; 248 x 197 mm), Broad Street [Charleston, South Carolina], 31 May 1796, to [Sarah] Rutledge [in London]; formerly folded, small hole in blank portion of address leaf from seal tear. Blue half-morocco drop-box, gilt-stamped title on red leather labels on spine.

Rutledge (1749–1800), then a state senator in South Carolina, writes an affectionate fatherly letter to Sarah (1782–1855), who was then in London, and was later to write The Carolina Housewife (1847). The letter was to be delivered by her brother "whom I have consented should visit Europe before you leave it ... He most anxiously wishes to meet you & you will find him full of that tender affection which I pray God, may at all times and thro' all the Changes of life, subsist between you."

Pleased to have received a "long, well written French letter" from her, he reports meeting a young French lady at the home of Mrs. Heyward (his sister-in-law). "She played to admiration & sang charmingly. She put me much in mind of you, although you say, you do not play well, & do not sing at all. It may be so, yet every Grace, & every accomplishment in any of your sex, naturally brings you to my recollection, & calls forth the fond wish of an affectionate Father, that his dear Daughter may imitate & equal, what he admires."