Autograph letter signed and dated by Auguste Bartholdi to writer Edmond About. Three pages written in black on a bifolium with his letterhead.
Traces of folds inherent to mailing.
Bartholdi returns from Egypt after having presented his project for a colossal statue on the Suez Canal, whose design will eventually be used for the Statue of Liberty. The sculptor gives his impressions of the trip, and brings back silks and Persian carpets from the bazaar for his friend.
From March to April 1868, Bartholdi stayed in Egypt to submit his monument project to Viceroy Ismaïl-Pacha. The idea of building a statue at the entrance to the Suez Canal had stemmed from the sculptor's visit to the canal company's pavilion at the Paris Universal Exhibition. He then imagined a fifty-metre-tall female colossus, stretching her arm skywards and brandishing a lantern - which he named "Egypt bringing light to Asia", or "Egypt illuminating the Orient". The pasha and chief canal builder Ferdinand de Lesseps were not won over:
"Of my enterprise I cannot give you any interesting information. I really don't know myself whether I've succeeded or not. You'll have to wait and see, I've found a benevolent welcome; but nothing definite, in the Egyptian fashion." The idea finally took root on the other side of the Atlantic, where his statue was enthusiastically welcomed by the Franco-American union and brought him international renown.
In addition to his excursions on the back of a donkey to find a site for his work on the banks of the canal, the sculptor took to strolling the streets of Alexandria and Cairo, drawing numerous sketches: "I intended to return to complete my studies at the bazaar; when, being indisposed, I was obliged to leave suddenly [...] I had the pleasure of seeing your friend Arackel, who was as kind to me as your letter ". Bartholdi also thanks About for his glowing review of his work published on June 1st: "It took your kind little note in the Revue des deux mondes to get my pen into my hands. Thank you for your friendly caress", and talks at length about the silks and carpets he had promised him: " The habaye [abbaya] of blue and gold silk cost 180 instead of 175, and they would only let me have it for 130, the last price. The Caramanie carpets cost 60 last price, and I only saw two or three that were beautiful".
A precious and aesthetic letter by Bartholdi, whose unsuccessful venture in Egypt would lead to the building of America's most iconic monument.