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Jefferson DAVIS (1808-1889). Autograph letter signed, to ‘Dr. M.[aurice] Davis, / My dear friend, Memphis, Tenn., 6th Jany 1875. Octavo (8 x 5 in; 203 x 127mm), 4pp. ‘Your very welcome letter has been received… No one has ventured on ‘faint praise’ of you and your beloved family, to me, and if they had, it would have been inconsistent with manly gratitude to have listened to it. Thanks for considering my silence long, and to excuse it, can only say that there has been nothing concerning myself that it would have been pleasant for you to hear, or for me to relate. Of public affairs in our own section, there has been little which might not belong to the reign of King John, before the memorable event at Runnymede. So you have been the gainer by my silence, & as far as concerns public affairs, it shall be preserved, but to the personal questions it is due to you that I answer.' He goes on to describe his wife Varina’s ill-health, notes that 'The children are well. Maggie is in society. Jeff at the Military School in Virginia. Little Minnie goes to day school'  He goes on to ask that the Dr. ‘Kiss my dear little sweetheart Lulu [?Ella, 1863-1932], and tell her I am very anxious to see her, and to repeat our vows. With love to Mrs. [Esther] Davis [1821-1898], Misses Anita [b.1855] and Blanche [b.1856], and the young gentleman, I send to you each and all my cordial New Year’s greeting.’ The personal questions he mentioned concern his family origins and he goes on to explain that because his father died when he was young and because there was no great desire (as a new Nation) to explore links with the old country, he knows little of his family in the UK.

A warm and affectionate letter offering some details of his family and their health as well as commenting on his own upbringing and lack of knowledge of his antecedents.

Dr. Maurice Marcus Davis (1821-1898) acted as physician to the Davis’s whilst they were in the UK: Varina Davis describes him as ‘our skilful and wise Physician’, and later as ‘Dr. Maurice Davis, of London, our kind and skilful friend of years ago’. 'Lulu' is probably Dr. Davis's youngest daughter, Ella : she subsequently married British chemist and entomologist Professor Raphael Meldola. 'Miss Anita' married Hermann Cohn and had four children, the youngest of whom was named Jefferson Davis Cohn - an obvious indication of the high esteem in which the Davis family held their American namesake.

Dr. Davis and his wife Anita were both from wealthy Jewish dynastic families, and were prominent and quite active in the Jewish community in Great Britain.

See Wellcome Colllection MS.8511 - a group of letters including one, dated 28 March 1874, from Jefferson Davis to Dr. Davis