Adams, John. Autograph letter signed in the third person, to Elbridge Gerry, 24 September 1800

Property of Various Owners

ADAMS, JOHN

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED IN THE THIRD PERSON AS PRESIDENT ("THE P."), TO ELBRIDGE GERRY, DISCUSSING AN EXCHANGE OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

One page (9 3/8 x 7 7/8 in.; 247 x 202 mm) on a bifolium (watermarked posthorn), Quincy, 24 September, integral autograph address leaf, reception docket; seal tear, a few small stains.

Adams thanks Gerry for a horticultural gift and displays the range of his pomological knowledge: "The P. presents his best respects to Mr Gerry and his hearty thanks for the elegant Present of Peaches Pears and Brocoli. They are all very fine. The Pears are very delicious and may be burys: but they appear more like Bergamots. They have neither the large Line nor the green Colour of the real Bury as the P. rememebers this lost species. The P. however would be very much obliged and very happy to have two or three trees of them." Adams has to admit that he can return to Gerry nothing so grand, "The P. has nothing he can with decency return, but thanks and few St. Michaels [pears] and few common Peaches."

This warm, if scarcely consequential, letter, is emblematic of the friendship and respect shared by these two titans of Massachusetts politics. It probably also represents the last presidential word on broccoli until George H. W. Bush had the vegetable banned from Air Force One.