Cresson, Warder (1798-1860). Autograph Letter Signed written to Mordecai Manuel Noah, in English.

AUCTION 79 |
Thursday, November 15th,
2018 at 1:00 PM
The Valmadonna Trust Library: Further Selections from the Historic Collection. * Hebrew Printing in America. * Graphic & Ceremonial Art
Lot 177
(AMERICAN JUDAICA)
Cresson, Warder (1798-1860). Autograph Letter Signed written to Mordecai Manuel Noah, in English.
Jerusalem: 5th November 1847
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
PRICE REALIZED $8,500
<<AN IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION LETTER.>>
This letter has been discussed by Yaakov Shavit in his Land in the Deep Shadow of Wings and the Redemption of Israel: A Millenarian Document from Jerusalem, 1847, in: Cathedra 50 (1988) p. 98.
ᴥ Warder Cresson was born a Quaker in Philadelphia where he grew to subscribe to a form of Millenarian belief heavily influenced by the proto-Zionist writings of Mordecai Manuel Noah.
In an era when European powers were vying for influence in the Holy Land through its consular appointments there, Cresson was appointed the first U.S. Consul to Jerusalem in 1844. His commission was recalled by the time he arrived at Jerusalem, but Cresson remained in the holy city, where he grew close to local Jews and formally converted to Judaism in March of 1848.
Even before his Jerusalem sojourn, Cresson had been very favorably disposed towards Jews and Judaism. In 1840 he befriended Isaac Leeser, and was soon contributing many articles to Leeser’s Occident, often attacking the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews.
In this letter Cresson disputes Alexander McCaul, author of the most notorious missionary book of the 19th century, Netivot Olam - The Old Paths. As we can see, even as Cresson spurned Christianity and adapted Judaism, he retained many of his Milleniarian beliefs. Having effectively abandoned his family for Jerusalem and Judaism, his wife and children were able to have him declared legally insane. Cresson remarried a Sephardic woman in Jerusalem, and lived out his days as a pious Jew in the Oriental tradition. Upon his death, he was buried on the Mount of Olives.
See Nir Hasson, Grave of the 'First American Consul' in Jerusalem Uncovered, Ha'aretz, October 6th, 2013.