Autograph Note Signed ("W Irving"), to Obadiah Rich, requesting a history of Cadiz and Seville by Irving, Washington - 1830

n.p., 1830. 1 p. 4 x 4 1/2 inch slip. Faint toning, fine. 1 p. 4 x 4 1/2 inch slip. Requesting books on Spain from a noted bibliphile. Irving writes to his friend, the bibliophile, bookseller, and former U.S. consul in Spain, Obadiah Rich (1777-1850), with a request for books on Spanish history: "My dear Rich, If you have a chronicle or history of annals of Cadiz I will thank you to send it by the bearer. Also the annals of Seville if you have found them." Irving likely needed the volumes for his Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus (1831), on which he was then at work. Irving became intimate with Rich while living in Spain from 1826-1829, part of that time renting rooms in Rich's residence in Madrid. Rich had served as U.S. consul in Valencia before taking charge of the archives at the American legation in Madrid in 1823. While there he amassed an impressive library relating to Spanish and Latin American history, and he would go on to publish several bibliographies relating to Americana. In 1828 he established himself in London as a bookseller, serving as purchasing agent there for the Library of Congress from 1830-1850. Irving had returned to England from Spain in July 1829 following his appointment as Secretary to the American Legation in London.