Letter from Letard to Hine concerning... (1845)

NRA-L-000394 / 1845

Letter from Letard to Hine concerning eau-de-vie sales, 1845-02-20

Letard tells Hine that eighteen tierçons of new eau-de-vie have already been sold, comments on purchases by Martell and Hennessy, and reports strong local trade and prices.

Neruda Archives
NRA-L-000394

NRA-L-000394 image 1 showing the folded address panel to a recipient in Cognac, with several postal marks, a sealing remnant and manuscript docketing. — **Image 1**Address panel to a Cognac recipient, with postal marks, sealing remnant and docketing.

NRA-L-000394 image 2 showing a handwritten French commercial letter with a dated heading, account details and a closing signature. — **Image 2**Letter text with dated heading, commercial account and closing signature.

Archive Record

Identifier: NRA-L-000394
Date: 1845-02-20
Original date: Archiac Le 20 février 1845
Type: Commercial correspondence
Language: French / fr
Sender: Letard
Recipient: Hine
Places: Archiac / Jarnac / Archiac–Jarnac
Extent: 2 documentary sides: Address panel and postal evidence; Letter text; 2 digital images.
Citation: Neruda Archives, NRA-L-000394.

Rights & reuse

Reuse is welcome. Publicly available images may be reused for non-commercial purposes with attribution, and automated machine use is permitted with provenance. Commercial republication requires prior written permission.

Full rights & reuse terms

Publicly available images, transcriptions, translations, metadata and descriptions may be copied, shared, reproduced and republished, in whole or in part, for non-commercial purposes, provided that Neruda Archives is clearly credited and the relevant item identifier and stable URL are preserved. This permission includes non-commercial scholarly, educational, editorial, exhibition, website and social-media use. Automated machine use, including crawling, indexing, text and data mining, retrieval, embeddings and AI training by commercial and non-commercial systems, is permitted, provided provenance is retained where technically feasible and the item identifier and stable URL are preserved in source records or associated documentation. Commercial publication, commercial reproduction, resale, advertising use, paid access to a database or dataset and bulk redistribution of images require prior written permission. For the avoidance of doubt, permission is not required merely because an AI system or its operator is commercial. The images displayed and downloadable on this page are public access copies, and the permissions above apply to those files. Access to non-public source scans (preservation masters) or files specially prepared for print, where available, requires prior written agreement. Attribution may not be removed or replaced by false or misleading attribution.

Transcript and English translation

working scholarly aid

Address panel

Original transcript

A Messieurs
hine négociant d'eaudevie
a Leur Comptoir
Jarnac
A Cognac

Address panel

English translation

To Messieurs
Hine, eau-de-vie merchants
at their office
Jarnac
To Cognac

Letter text

Original transcript

Archiac Le 20 février 1845

Messieurs Hine

J'ai L'honneur de repondre a Votre Lettre
du 18 Ct, Je Suis Bien faché de ne pouvoir
Satisfaire a Votre demande, qui m'est arrivé un
peu tard, Car La Semaine derniere J'ai fini
de Vendre mes Eaudevie nouvelles, Le reste
de 18 tierçons que nous avons fabriqué
a Ma Chaudiere. —
Mais Les Messieurs Martell Et hennessy
ont toujours fait a jette Ce qui S'est presenté
En Bonne qualité. Sur notre petitte
place; Car Je Conte qu'il Est parti
dans Ce moment Environs 1700 a 1,800 =
tierçons de audevie de nos Cruts. —
dans Le Courant de novembre Je m'etais
presenté a Votre Comptoir, Mais Vous trouviez
Les prix trops Elevés = Et Ce Courant d'affaire
a toujours Continué = Ce qui Ma determiné
a diriger Mes affairres d'un autre Coté, a
Mon prochain Voyage a Cognac ou Jarnac
Je Me ferai L'honneur d'aller Vous Voir —

Recevez Messieurs L'assurance du
profond respect avec Lequel J'ai
L'honneur d'etre Votre très humble —
Serviteur
Letard

Letter text

English translation

Archiac, February 20, 1845

Messieurs Hine

I have the honor to reply to your letter of the 18th inst. I am very sorry not to be able to satisfy your request, which arrived a little late, for last week I finished selling my new eaux-de-vie, the remaining 18 tierçons that we produced at my boiler. —
But Messieurs Martell and Hennessy have always bought what has presented itself in good quality on our little square; for I reckon that at this moment around 1,700 to 1,800 tierçons of eaux-de-vie of our growths have left. —
During the course of November I presented myself at your office, but you found the prices too high = and this course of business has always continued = which determined me to direct my business elsewhere. On my next trip to Cognac or Jarnac I will do myself the honor of going to see you —

Receive, Messieurs, the assurance of the profound respect with which I have the honor to be your very humble —
Servant
Letard

Discovery Terms

Cognac trade
Hine
Martell
Hennessy
Eau-de-vie
Prices
Archiac
Jarnac
France — domestic trade

Transcriptions and English translations are provided as working scholarly aids, not as replacements for the images of the original documents. Some readings may remain uncertain, especially where handwriting, spelling, damage, abbreviations, names or places are difficult.

Some transcriptions and translations may be prepared with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by Neruda Archives before publication. Better readings, corrections and alternative translations are welcome when they are supported by the manuscript image, context or reliable sources.

When suggesting a correction, please include the item ID, the relevant line or image area, the proposed reading or translation, and the evidence for it.

Suggest a better reading or correction