Letter from Jacomo Melchiori, Venice, to Bartolomeo Corsini, London, 7 June 1591 [manuscript].

Italy, 7 June 1591.

1 item ; 21 x 31 cm

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Italy.

FAST ACC 271962 (flat)

From dealer's description: "Approximately half penned in autograph, half penned in another hand, presumably by an employee. Incorporating copy letter (31 May). This Elizabethan-era mercantile letter was sent from Venice by Jacomo Melchiori to London, addressed to the prominent Florentine merchant Bartolomeo Corsini (1545-1613). The bifolium contains letters penned on 31 May and 7 June 1591. The correspondence here is concerned principally with details relating to the Venetian ship Salvagna that, bound for Florence from Lisbon, had been captured 28 October 1590 off Cape St. Vincent by a large squadron of English privateers, among them the poet William Midleton (c.1550-1596) and the explorers John Davis (c.1550-1605) and Thomas Cavendish (1560-1592). Melchiori discusses the recovery of goods on the ship, in particular cargos owned by Vezzato, Fantoni and Nasi, as well as payment of the crew and details concerning insurance policies. Having heard of a sizeable shipment of ivory he requests that Corsini purchase a quantity on his account. Melchiori asks that Corsini continue in his mediation with the English authorities for the freeing of goods carried on the Salvagna owned by Venetian merchants. Ongoing petitioning of queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) by the doge of Venice, Pasquale Cicogna (d.1595) on behalf of the merchant Luigi Vezzato, resident in Lisbon, is discussed. Also mentioned is the capture by English privateers of a vessel off the island of Sao Tomé which Melchiori believes may have been carrying some ivory as part of its cargo. Provenance: Corsini archive (dispersed Christies Robson Lowe, 1984-1988)."|Ordered from Samuel Gedge, D9378, 2019-12-16, Catalogue 29, item 11.