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Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. M Eldridge Jr') from the Philadelphia inventor William M. Eldridge to Valentine Mott of New York, responding to 'slanders', and claiming that police searches have revealed 'the authors of the cards and all the mischief'.

Author: 
William M. Eldridge of Philadelphia, inventor [Valentine Mott (1785-1865), American surgeon]
Publication details: 
Paris. 23 May 1836.
£180.00

3pp., 4to. 60 lines of text. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Valentine Mott M.D. | 25 Park Place | New-York'; with three postmarks, one from Havre and another 'Forwarded by Lewis Rogers & Co.' (Mott was in Europe at the time of writing.) An tantalising letter, regarding an intriguing affair about which nothing else appears discoverable. Eldridge is sending 'a hand bill, 5000 of which have been circulated thro Paris and the towns in its vicinity'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the American opera singer Marie Jansen to Walter Scott jnr of Butler Brothers, New York, regarding the manufacture of tumblers with her photographic image on them.

Author: 
Marie Jansen [née Hattie Johnson] (1857-1914), American opera singer
Publication details: 
New York. 27 February 1895.
£60.00

1p., 4to. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with unobtrusive closed tears along crease lines. 'Mr. Ben Fack [Falk?], the photographer, will, I am sure, give you such a photograph of me as you may select from the assortment he has, if you inform him of your business.' She asks him to send her a sample, if 'the tumblers prove a success, as far as my likeness is concerned [...] If I like it I will possibly order a quantity.'

Autograph Note Signed ('Will Irwin') from the American 'muckraker' journalist William Henry Irwin.

Author: 
Will Irwin [William Henry Irwin] (1873-1948), American author and 'muckraker' journalist
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, 240 West 11th Street, New York City. No date.
£56.00

Landscape 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'Dear Dan; / You're one of the birds I just love to be praised by! / As ever / [signed] Will Irwin'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('I. I. Hayes') from the American arctic explorer Isaac Israel Hayes, providing an autograph for the stock broker and journalist John H. Gourtie.

Author: 
Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-1881), American arctic explorer [John H. Gourtie, stock broker and journalist]
Publication details: 
20c East 15th Street, New York. 15 June 1869.
£800.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of mount to blank second leaf of bifolium. Good, firm signature, with flourish. The letter reads 'Dear Sir | I have recd your favour of April last & am glad so easily to oblige you. - | Truly yours | I. I. Hayes'. Gourtie contributed stock exchange reports to the New-York American.

Typed Letter Signed ('Aug. Dietz'), with Autograph postscript, from the American philatelist August Dietz to Henry M. W. Eastman of Roslyn, NY, regarding a work he is preparing on Confederate stamps.

Author: 
August Dietz (1869-1963), American printer, philatelist, editor and publisher, authority on the postal history of the Confederate States of America [Henry Membry Western Eastman (1854-1924)]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Dietz Printing Company, Richmond, Virginia. 30 August 1919.
£180.00

2pp., 8vo. Good, on lightly-aged blue paper with brown border, with slight chipping to one corner. Eastman has purchased a 'Set of Fac-Simile Die-Proofs with the Autographed Card'. Presuming that Eastman is 'interested in Confederates', Dietz is enclosing 'the tentative Foreword' to 'a far more "pretentious" work - one upon which I have been engaged for many years': 'It "promises" to make over 400 pages octavo, and I am not yet through the Manuscript.

Autograph Letter Signed from Freeman Hunt, editor of the American Magazine and writer on economics, regarding his difficulties with the publishers (Derby & Jackson, New York) of his 'Lives of American Merchants', vol.2. With engraved portrait of Hunt

Author: 
Freeman Hunt (1804-1858), editor of 'The American Magazine' and author of fiscal conservative works on economics [Derby & Jackson, New York publishers; Sir William Pepperrell]
Publication details: 
New York. 12 August 1857.
£180.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In a difficult hand, with the recipient's name indecipherable. He will not be able to insert the portrait of Sir William Pepperrell in his book (the second volume of his 'Lives of American Merchants'), as the 'publishers [Derby & Jackson, New York] are unwilling to pay for more than expense of printing and paper', and he has 'been at a good deal of expense already on that score'. The volume was published in 1858. The portrait, 'Eng[rave]d. by Wm. N.

Autograph Letter Signed to J. S. Armstrong, President, Commercial Bank of Cincinnati, announcing that the Bank of Kentucky have resolved 'to commence paying Specie'.

Author: 
James Hall (1793-1868), American judge and man of letters [J. S. Armstrong, President, Commercial Bank of Cincinnati; Bank of Kentucky]
Publication details: 
Louisville, Kentucky. 2 August 1838.
£80.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He sends 'by the Genl. Pike a package contg P31.563. of our notes for Crt of the Bank of Kenty. | That Bank resolved this morning to commence paying Specie on the 13th Inst'. Hall would himself be President of the Commercial Bank of Cincinnati from 1853 to 1865.

Autograph Letter Signed from the American historian John Bach McMaster to the military historian John Codman Ropes of Boston, regarding a list of works relating to the Duc d'Enghien.

Author: 
John Bach McMaster (1852-1932), American historian, Professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania [John Codman Ropes (1836-1899), American military historian]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The College, University of Pennsylvania. 12 January 1896.
£56.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of previous mounting on reverse. He acknowledges with 'great pleasure' the 'duplicate list of books relating to the execution of the Duc d'Enghien'. 'The pains you have taken to prepare it are very fully appreciated.'

Autograph Letter Signed from the geologist George Gibbs to Charles Sumner, abolitionist Senator from Massachusetts, regarding the French jurist Jean-Jacques Gaspard Foelix and Sumner's review.

Author: 
George Gibbs (1815-1873), American geologist and expert on Native American culture [Charles Sumner (1811-1874), abolitionist Massachusetts senator; Jean-Jacques Gaspard Foelix (1791-1853)]
Publication details: 
Greenwich, Massachusetts; 28 February 1836.
£150.00

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. 35 lines of text. Addressed, with postmark, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Chas. Sumner Esq. | Boston | Masstts.' Very good, on aged paper. Written while Sumner was lecturing at Harvard Law School, the year before his visit to Europe. Gibbs explains that he has made an arrangement by which Sumner can forward his periodical the Jurist 'to [the French jurist] Foelix &c. & receive others in exchange. Hudson the Proprietor of the Merchants News Room has an agent in Paris & one in Narn to whom he will transmit them.

Manuscript of the United States Corps of Cadets anthem 'Benny Havens, Oh!', dated 'As sung by the U.S. Corps Cadets | 1864'. With explanatory introduction in manuscript, and with the '22nd. verse written at the beginning of the [American Civil] war'.

Author: 
Lieutenant Lucius O'Brien; Ripley Allen Arnold (1817-1853) [Corps of Cadets, United States Military Academy, West Point; Benny Havens (c.1787-1877)]
Publication details: 
[On West Point letterheads?] 1864.
£250.00

8pp., 12mo. On four bifoliums, placed inside one another to make a booklet. Each bifolium with embossed [West Point?] letterhead of a letter 'W' within a shield. A fair copy, with the title reading: 'Benny Havens, Oh! | as sung | by the | U.S. Corps Cadets - | 1864.' The twenty-two line introduction covers the whole of the second page.

Typed Poem Signed ('Theodosia Garrison') from the American poet Theodosia Pickering Garrison (Mrs. Frederick J. Faulks), titled 'Pessimism'.

Author: 
Theodosia Pickering Garrison [Mrs. Frederick J. Faulks] (1874-1944)
Publication details: 
'Theodosia Pickering Garrison, | 32 Nassau Street, New York City.' Undated [1909 or before].
£125.00

1p., landscape 12mo. Good, on aged paper. Garrison's name and address are typed in the top left-hand corner. Her signature is written boldly beneath the poem, which is eight lines long, in two stanzas. It reads 'Because I snatched a pebble from the way, | And thought it priceless till that day my eyes | Filled with a clearer light, and knew my prize | Was worthless, poorer than the common clay; | Because of this shall I go clamouring, | "Behold, there are no diamonds!" and say, | "Look as ye will, ye find but pebbles"? Nay!

Autograph Letter Signed from the New Hampshire almanac maker Dudley Leavitt ('Old Master Leavitt') to the bookseller Charles Norris of Exeter, New Hampshire, publisher of his 'Scholar's Review', discussing it and giving the text of an advertisement.

Author: 
Dudley Leavitt (1772-1851), New Hampshire almanac maker for over half a century, known locally as 'Old Master Leavitt' [Charles Norris (1782?-1847), bookseller and publisher, Exeter, New Hampshire]
Publication details: 
Meredith [New Hampshire]. 3 September 1811.
£160.00

2pp., folio. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Signed twice. In the body of the letter, consisting of twenty-two lines, Leavitt writes that he is forwarding to Norris 'the Register with such additions and corrections as appeared necessary'. He will insert any further information in a few weeks. Regarding 'the sitting of the Courts' he states: 'If the Legislature of this State altered none of the sitting last June, they are correct in your Register for 1811. I think there is no alteration.' As his 'local situation is such' that he cannot soon ascertain particulars, he suggests George Sullivan.

Holograph poem by the Harvard-educated lawyer George Stillman Hillard, Attorney General of Massachusetts, titled 'To the Friday Club'. With engraved portrait of Hillard.

Author: 
George Stillman Hillard (1808-1879), Harvard-educated lawyer, in partnership with Charles Sumner, writer on the law, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts [The Friday Club, Boston]
Publication details: 
Signed 'Geo. S. Hillard | April 1. 1859.'
£200.00

3pp., 12mo. A fair copy. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The twenty-eight-line poem is arranged in seven four-line stanzas, with Hillard's firm signature and the date at the end. The poem begins with unintentional, but no less curious, sexual overtones: 'The rod of Aaron, severed long | From its ancestral bowers, | Felt in its veins the sap of youth, | And shone with buds of flowers. | The rigid staff, smoothworn and dry, | In living green was dressed.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. S. Hillard') from the Harvard lawyer George Stillman Hillard (later District Attorney for Massachusetts) to W. W. Greenough, written from Paris in the 'Year of Revolutions' 1848, analysing the political situation there.

Author: 
George Stillman Hillard (1808-1879), Harvard-educated lawyer, writer on the law, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts [William Whitwell Greenough (1818-1899), Boston merchant]
Publication details: 
Paris, France; 16 May 1848.
£320.00

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. Ninety lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with small hole on second leaf causing damage to a few words of text. Addressed with two postmarks (one French, one American) on the reverse of the second leaf to 'William W. Whitwell Esq | Boston. Mass. | United States of America'. A significant letter, written from Paris by an astute and cultured American jurist on the day following the demonstration of 15 May 1848.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. C. Grattan') from the Irish writer Thomas Colley Grattan to Edward D. Ingraham of Philadelphia, regarding his article 'The Irish in America', published in the North American Review.

Author: 
Thomas Colley Grattan (1792-1864), Irish journalist and novelist, British consul in Massachusetts, 1839-1846 [Edward Duncan Ingraham (1793-1854) of Philadelphia, author]
Publication details: 
Boston; 1 May 1842.
£120.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf. Good, on aged paper. Replying to a letter of Ingraham's, he states that 'the only paper I have written on the subject you mention was an article ['The Irish in America'] in the North American Review, which appeared in the January number of last year, as well as I recollect.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Hamilton Gibson') from the American illustrator and naturalist William Hamilton Gibson to 'Mr Bramief', complaining about the printing of a letter.

Author: 
William Hamilton Gibson (1850-1896), American illustrator, author and naturalist
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Authors Club, 19 West 24th Street, New York; 27 January 1887.
£120.00

2pp., 8vo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with two unobtrusive pinholes to second leaf (not affecting text). He is sending the 'matter' to Bramief 'as an earnest of my good nature, for I think I am somewhat justified under the circumstances in the impression that you have been a trifle <?> and exacting.' He still considers the form of is second letter 'was all that you could reasonably have asked for and that the request for so called "copy" was especially needless in the facce of the fact that it was in any event to be trusted turned, cut and otherwise subdued to suit your requirements'.

Signed Autograph Memorandum ('Ro Greenhow') from the historian Robert Greenhow, produced as part of his duties as librarian at the Department of State in Washington, concerning a correspondence between Madison and Monroe on 'natural improvements'.

Author: 
Robert Greenhow (1800-1854), translator and librarian at the Department of State in Washington, and author of works including 'The History of Oregon and California' (1844)
Publication details: 
24 June [no year].
£60.00

1p., 4to. Ten lines. Fair, on aged paper, with one unobtrusive closed tear. Greenhow describes the surviving correspondence concerning 'natural improvements' between Madison and Monroe, and speculates regarding a discrepancy.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R G Hazard') from the American industrialist and abolitionist Rowland Gibson Hazard to Messrs Livingstone & Co, regarding bonds and other interests. With a signed printed receipt from the Fireman's Mutual Insurance Company.

Author: 
Rowland Gibson Hazard (1801-1845) , American industrialist, founder of the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company, Rhode Island, politician, and abolitionist [Fireman's Mutual Insurance Company]
Publication details: 
Letter: Peace Dale, Rhode Island; 16 December 1838. Receipt: Providence; 7 August 1862.
£80.00

Letter: 1p., 12mo. Fair, on lighty-aged paper. Hazard does not 'hold the bonds you allude to', but still has some other interests in relation to a named party. He will be in New York 'ere long'. Docketed on the reverse: 'Does not hold La C Bond | Wil be in N Y before long'. The receipt is attractively printed on one side of a piece of 16 x 6.5 cm paper. In good condition. Hazard acknowledges receipt from the company of $56.87, the dividend on inusrance policy 1931. Signed by him 'Peace Dale Mg Co | [signed] R G Hazard Jnor'. The two items appear unconnected.

Autograph Letter Signed ('S. Judd') from the American novelist Sylvester Judd, expressing a desire to write for Maria Weston Chapman's abolitionist gift book 'The Liberty Bell'.

Author: 
Sylvester Judd (1813-1853), American novelist, best-known for his book 'Margaret' (1845) ['The Liberty Bell',abolitionist gift book edited by Maria Weston Chapman (1806-1885)]
Publication details: 
Riverside, Augusta; 28 August 1851.
£180.00

1p., 4to. Good, on aged paper. The letter (possibly addressed to the book's publisher) reads 'My dear Sir, | It would give me great pleasure to write for the "Liberty Bell," but I dare not at this moment say I could prepare anything in the time you mention. | Yours truly | [signed] S. Judd.'

Autograph Letter Signed from the legal theorists Theodore Sedgwick to 'Jno C. <Hind?>' of 67 Chatham Street [New York].

Author: 
Theodore Sedgwick (1811-1859), American lawyer and legal theorist
Publication details: 
44 Wall Street, New York; 16 September [1856].
£60.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter reads 'Dear Sir | I am under obligations to you for yr. polite note of the 15th. & for yr. pamphlet - The subject is one of great importance & I shall read it with interest.' Perhaps the New York surveyor John C. Hind, who was active in the 1820s.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. S.') from the legal theorist Theodore Sedgwick to the politician Charles Sumner, discussing John O'Connell's journal 'American Themis', with a reference to William Duer.

Author: 
Theodore Sedgwick (1811-1859), lawyer and legal theorist [Charles Sumner (1811-1874), senator from Massachusetts, antislavery leader of the Radical Republicans; John O'Connell; William Duer (1805-79)]
Publication details: 
New York, 15 February 1844.
£80.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper with minor traces of mount on the reverse. Addressed to 'Chas. Sumner Esq. | Boston Mass.' At the time of writing Sumner, having returned from Europe the previous year, was practising law at Boston. Regarding 'American Themis, A Monthly Journal of Jurisprudence and Judicature', edited by John O'Connell, Sedgwick writes that he is sending 'two or three nos. of a new Legal Magazine wh.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. R. Hassler') from the surveyor Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, head of the United States Coast Survey, to Hon. John C. Spencer, Secretary of the US Treasury, regarding 'the plan of Operation for the Coast Survey'.

Author: 
Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (1770-1843), Swiss-born American surveyor, head of the United States Coast Survey and the Bureau of Weights and Measures [John Canfield Spencer (1788-1855), politician]
Publication details: 
Washington City; 28 May 1843.
£145.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Hassler begins: 'The peculiar position in which I am, will plead my excuse for addressing you the enclosed papers, and the cold which I have, for not coming personally in the present bad weather, as I intended, and shall do soon as admissible.' He asks Spencer to visit 'this Office before Your ultimate decision upon the plan of Operation for the Coast Survey'.

[Printed programme.] 'Mr. George Riddle will give a course of six afternoon readings' [at the Brooklyn homes of Mrs N.W.T. Hatch, Mrs S.B. Chittenden, Mrs J.S.T. Stranahan, Mrs D.C. Robbins, Mrs John Buckingham and Miss Gilbert].

Author: 
George Riddle [George Peabody Riddle] (1851-1910), American elocutionist and actor [Mrs N.W.T. Hatch, Mrs S.B. Chittenden, Mrs J.S.T. Stranahan, Mrs D.C. Robbins, Mrs John Buckingham, Miss Gilbert]
Publication details: 
'A. S. SEER'S Engraving and Printing Establishment, 26 & 28 Union Sq., N. Y.' [Between 5 and 29 March [c.1891]].
£80.00

3pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Fair, on aged paper with fold lines. The front page carries the printer's slug, and gives the price of $6 for 'Course Tickets', 'For sale at the houses where the readings are to be given, on and after FEBRUARY 19th.' The middle two pages give the addresses, with owner's names, of the houses at which the six readings are to take place.

Autograph Letter Signed from the New York publisher Henry Holt to 'Professor Platt' [Johnson Tuttle Platt of Yale Law School], enquiring as to the merits of a text book.

Author: 
Henry Holt (1840-1926), New York bookseller, publisher, editor and author [Professor Johnson Tuttle Platt (1844-1890) of Yale Law School]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 25 Bond Street, New York; 2 February 1876.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with short unobtrusive closed tear along crease line. Holt writes that he is mailing the book which they discussed. 'The specimen appears to contain a trifle over a quarter of the scheme. Whether the bulk would correspond to the theoretic divisions, you can guess better than I.' Holt presumes that 'glancing' at the book will interest Platt, and asks for 'an idea of it's [sic] probable use fulness and the extent of the class, whether practitioners or students, apt to be interested in it'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the abolitionist Hinton Rowan Helper to John Cook Rives, editor of the Congressional Globe.

Author: 
Hinton Rowan Helper (1829-1909), racist and abolitionist, United States Consul at Buenos Aires, 1861-1866, author of 'The Impending Crisis of the South' (1857) [John Cook Rives (1795-1864), editor]
Publication details: 
43 Pine Street, New York; 22 February 1860.
£120.00

1p., landscape 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Helper asks Rives to send, with 'back numbers, from the commencement of the present Session [...] the Congressional Globe (and Appendix) for the thirty-sixth Congress'. He discusses payment and method of delivery.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. T. Headley') from Joel Tyler Headley, Secretary of State of New York, [to his father], expressing his desire to return to the Auburn Theological Seminary in New York following a bout of ill health.

Author: 
Joel Tyler Headley (1813-1897), Secretary of State of New York, clergyman, author and newspaper editor [Auburn Theological Seminary, New York]
Publication details: 
Spencer; 8 August 1837.
£80.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged lined paper. Headley's father - a Presbyterian clergyman - is not named, but the letter is addressed to 'Rev and dear Sir', with the valediction reading 'Respectfully & affectionately', and the context makes it quite clear that he is the recipient.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John H. Sheppard') from the Boston lawyer and author John Hannibal Sheppard to General Henry Dearborn, proposing George Kent for the post of messenger to Washington.

Author: 
John H. Sheppard [John Hannibal Sheppard] (1789-1873), British-born Harvard-educated Boston lawyer, author and prominent freemason [Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn (1783-1851),]
Publication details: 
Boston; 5 December 1848.
£80.00

1p., 4to. 25 lines.Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Sheppard writes that he called on Dearborn the previous day, but found him confined to his room by indisposition. He proposes his friend 'George Kent Esq of this city, a Counsellor at Law', for the appointment of 'Messenger to carry on the electoral votes to Washington'. He describes Kent as 'a man of talents, a brother of Ex-Gov Kent of Maine', who has 'been very active with his able pen in helping in this section of the country to promote the election of Gen Taylor'. Kent is a prolific writer and 'a decided Whig'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the American statistician Lemuel Shattuck to 'Dr. Jarvis' [Edward Jarvis of Concord], 'relative to the Report about which we have conferred'.

Author: 
Lemuel Shattuck (1793-1859), American statistician and public health pioneer [Edward Jarvis (1803-1884) of Concord, Massachusetts, psychiatrist and statistician]
Publication details: 
Boston; 2 April 1847.
£130.00

1p., 4to. Good. He has received no reply to the letter he wrote 'in relation to the Report about which we have conferred', and was 'in hopes to have been able to see you at Dorchester before this time', but has had 'another ill time', being 'confined again to my room'. He has received a letter from 'Dr <?> of New York in relation to the , and an answer is required forthwith'. He asks Jarvis to call as soon as possible. It was under the influence of Shattuck that Jarvis first became interested in statistics.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Mary H. Catherwood') from the novelist Mary Hartwell Catherwood to her publisher Charles F. Chichester of the Century Company, requesting correction of statement 'according to "White Islander" contract'. With two portraits.

Author: 
Mary Hartwell Catherwood (1847-1902), American author of historical romances, mostly set in set in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois [Charles F. Chichester, Treasurer of the Century Company, New York]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but answered by Chichester on 1 January [1883].
£120.00

1p., 12mo. Very good, within thin paper windowpane mount. She writes 'Dear Mr. Chichester:- | I return statement. Please have it corrected according to "White Islander" contract, and send me the check early in February. And I shall be obliged.' Docketed by Chichester 'Ansd. 1. 30' and 'Corrected State. sent | Sent Ck $186.66'.

Autograph ('M. Halstead') of the noted American war correspondent Murat Halstead, at foot of letter to him from autograph-hunter John N. Cobb, with another signature on his calling card. With engraved portrait of Halstead by Arthur Jule Goodman.

Author: 
Murat Halstead (1829-1908), American newspaper editor and author, war correspondent in the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War and the Spanish-American War [Arthur Jule Goodman]
Publication details: 
Cobb's letter dated from Philadelphia, 7 June 1893.
£75.00

Cobb's letter is 1p., 4to, typed in green. He states that he is 'collecting the autographs of prominent American editors' and that he would like to add Halstead's, as 'it will not be complete without yours'. At the foot of the letter Halstead has written, in a sprawling hand, with smudged signature, 'Perhaps the will serve. | M. Halstead'. Pinned to the letter is the calling card of 'Mr. Murat Halstead.', with his signature 'M. Halstead' (again slightly smudged) beneath the name. Both items are lightly-aged, but good.

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