BAUDIN (Charles) - Lot 227

BAUDIN (Charles) Paris, 1784 - 1854. French admiral. Son of Conventionnel Baudin des Ardennes. Maritime Prefect in Toulon from 1841 to 1847. L.A.S. "Ch. Baudin" to his son. S.l., Wednesday February 1, 1854. 1 page in-4. Interesting letter concerning the beginnings of international telegraph communications between France and England. Baudin informs his son that one of his colleagues, whom he calls "an excellent colleague" and "my banker", is going to England "to establish electrical communication between the two observatories in Greenwich and Paris". The admiral then asked his son, attached to the French embassy, to put himself at the man's disposal should any intervention with the embassy become necessary: "Should he be in a position to request any service from the French Embassy, I count on your readiness to place yourself at his disposal." A fine letter testifying to the early development of international telegraph links and the interest shown by French maritime and scientific circles in these technical innovations during the nascent Second Empire. Well-preserved manuscript in broad, energetic handwriting, signed "Ch. Baudin".