25 September 1832 Horatio Hardy MN 1 Cover

25 September 1832

RARE “HORATIO HARDY” SIGNED (FORWARDED FROM LONDON’s JERUSALEM COFFEE HOUSE) COVER TO INDIA; 25 Sept. 1832 E (one side-flap removed; family contents) to Calcutta [from the Jerusalem Coffee House signed by its famous proprietor in London] “Per [Ship] Andromache” with the distinctive flourished “Horatio Hardy” Forwarding Agent’s signature on the top flap; forwarded by another Agent (“Mackintosh & Co.”) from Calcutta to “Patna” with only Calcutta (11 May 1833) arrival backstamps. Hardy was proprietor of the famous Jerusalem Coffee House from c.1815 - 1840, but his signed Forwarded letters (always to India) are only recorded occasionally from 1823 to 1837. In his way he was as important a character in Anglo-Indian Postal History as Thomas Waghorn. We have only recorded six other “Horatio Hardy” covers. [The similar 1828 cover from this same correspondence in Cavendish’s Sept. 2009 auction, lot 1256, realised £805.] Exhibition Item. PHOTO - see inside back cove

Michael Manning