Hippolyte Laforest.

Autograph Letter Signed.

Jérémie (Haiti), 1 January 1817.

4° (23.8 x 19.5 cm), [8, 3 blank, 1] pp. autograph letter ink on laid paper.

Unbound, folded. Complete with original address panel bearing postal markings “Colonies par Nantes,” black wax seal (partially intact), and manuscript routing instructions.

Manuscript account of trade in post-revolutionary independent Haiti by merchant Hippolyte Laforest, based in the southern port town of Jérémie. He proudly identifies himself as a Haitian citizen and co-founder of the trading house Laforest & Brière. He states explicitly that “all others [merchants] are Haitians and I am one of them.” Writing just over a decade after Haiti’s independence, Laforest offers a detailed and candid picture of commerce in the new Black republic under President Alexandre Pétion—welcoming to foreign traders, yet firmly closed to French colonial ownership.

The letter responds to inquiries about land and business prospects by a Monsieur Estienne, at Le Plessis, near Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir, France). Laforest explains that all property formerly held by colonists has been seized and sold by the government. French nationals, by law, may neither own land nor reside in Haiti as proprietors. He describes how the Jérémie district is slowly recovering from years of conflict, with Haitian owners actively rebuilding plantations.

A detailed price list is included for key exports—coffee, sugar, cotton, cocoa, mahogany, and logwood—along with import tariffs and notes on shipping. Laforest emphasizes Haiti’s openness to trade with American, British, Dutch, and Spanish merchants, while pointing out that French vessels are excluded unless they sail under a neutral flag.

Concluding with an invitation to establish commercial ties, Laforest presents himself as a well-established Haitian trader engaged in consignments of both goods and ships. This manuscript source illustrates the economic self-determination of early independent Haiti and the emergence of a local Black merchant class asserting itself on the global stage.

Condition:

Paper some toning and scattered light foxing to outer leaves. Inside very clean. Ink clear and legible throughout. Original black wax seal partially intact. No text loss. Well-preserved.