Auction 739 April.

DS in Arabic, signed “C. G. Gordon,” one page, 4.25 x 2.5, no date. Promissory note from Khartoum, in part (translated): "One Hundred official Piastres, this sum is accepted and will be paid by the Treasury in Khartoum or Cairo any time six months after today." Signed at the conclusion in ink by Gordon, and slightly overstamped with his Arabic seal. In fine condition. Accompanied by a mounted portrait by the London Stereoscopic Company, featuring Gordon's facsimile signature on the mount.

During the ten-month siege of Khartoum, Gordon and his followers were isolated due to Britain's vacillation about its role in the Sudan. Cut off from financial support, Gordon issued these promissory notes, guaranteed by his reputation and personal wealth.

ALS signed “B. B. Hotchkiss,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 8.25 x 10.5, Hotchkiss & Co. letterhead, February 4, 1874. Handwritten letter to "Mr. Norris" regarding a weapons contract, in part: "About the £1000 my idea is that if I place the Gun in your hands it is to pay me the expenses of keeping it alive for 6 years whilst it has been resolved—not as a royalty for contracts being got at this time but for my giving up many chances to take the contract myself. I do not know the Remingtons in the matter this is a transaction between us…In your proposed agreement you want to put my gun on an equal footing with the N in all the talk and maneuvering which took place in your last 3 visits to Paris it was always said or I so understood it." In very good to fine condition, with light creasing, minor edge wear, and a thin horizontal stain.