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Seeking Reading Material in Pueblo de Los Angles in 1843

"California being so remote [a] section of the world it is impossible to have anything in the way of recent news"

A remarkable artifact from early Los Angeles - an 1843 manuscript letter by an important figure in the history and development of the region. In the present letter, a neatly penned contemporary retained copy, Francis Pliny Fisk Temple writes to his sister from "Pueblo de los Angeles," complaining about the dearth of reading material in such "a remote section of the world."

The letter opens with a reference to the difficulty in mailing letters out from Los Angeles at this time, "having now an opportunity of writing by the way of the Sandwich Islands."

The letter reads:

Pueblo de Los Angeles. Jany. 29th 1843

Dear sister Cynthia,

Having now an opportunity of writing by the way of the Sandwich Islands I with great pleasure improve the present in so doing, I enjoy good health as usual, wishing that this may find you in health and prosperity. It would be a great gratification if it was so that I could call in & see you now & then & talk over matters & things in general. I have wrote home so many times I expect it will be of very little interest to hear from me as I have nothing new of importance to write - California being so remote section of the world it is impossible to have any thing in the way of recent news. I wish you to send me some papers by the first opportunity, I don't have anything to read except those books that I brought out & the papers that were send [sic] by the Barnstable they being now all read to peaces [sic]. Please improve every opportunity of writing & give an account of the principal transactions since you last wrote.

Rarity

Original letters written from Los Angeles dating from the 1840s are very rare; examples penned by prominent individuals are especially so.