FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

Letter 12.
[Letter from Pierre Renee de Segrais in London to his brother-in-law, Jean Baptiste
Florian, in New Orleans
This letter is in typewritten translation at the Mobile Public Library but apparently not at
the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, the translation is sometimes garbled and stilted.]
London, October 16, 1810
My dear Florian:
<strong>The</strong> bearer of this letter is Mr. Remy David, nephew of the beautiful Madame
Récamier. 92 I recommend him to you and my sister in a very special way. He is a very
worthy young man and my very good friend.
Madame Récamier, by Francois Gerard
I am sending you herein a bill of lading for 2 grand pianos, a harp with benches and a
trunk, in all six objects, which I have shipped on the vessel United States, addressed to
Emmanuel but to be delivered to you. Here is the way they are to be given: “Grand piano,
highly finished and ornamented, etc., etc.,” [the latter in English] with all sorts of little
doodads, scrollwork, gilt, etc., for my dear sister Marguerite—lots of nice things in one
92 Madame Jeanne-Francoise Récamier (1777-1849) was called by some the most beautiful woman in the
world. She married a banker 30 years her senior who may have been her father; she numbered among her
admirers Chateaubriand, Prince Augustus of Prussia, Lucien Bonaparte and others. She was painted by
many of the major artists of the day, including Fragonard and David.
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