AMERICA – ROBERT BROWNING, SNR. Series of 43 caricatures recording the conversation of members of the Earles family of Hackney on receiving a letter from America, beginning "...I say, Tom, I've had a letter to-day...", going on "...A Letter! – well it's lucky to have a letter on a New Years Day... It's from an outlandish place in America... Fetch the map! Fetch the map!...", continuing in an excitable vein with complaints about the cost of postage, and commenting "...English ladies are at a discount in America – especially since Mrs Trollope's visit – why I'm told even the Creek Indians turn up their noses at them... she cannot kill bears – she cannot cut wood – she cannot catch beavers – what can she do?...", numbered 1-44 (no. 8 missing), 42 pages, pen, ink and wash on rectos only, some dust-staining, discolouration and spotting, some small tears at edges, 8vo (183 x 114mm.), [1833]; with autograph note signed with initials ("M.L"), explaining that the sketches were made of her family in 1833 by Mr Browning "...on the reaction of our receiving a letter which had wandered about a good deal & on which the postage was 3/6 – in it there are allusions to Creek Indians - & to many places & Rivers...", 2 pages, 8vo, Bathampton, 13 November [18]88; envelope docketed "Mr Browning's sketches", addressed to Mrs Lemann of Home Lodge, Bathampton, postmarked 26 September 1898; autograph note signed ("S. Smallfield") to "My dear Mary", returning the sketches, dated 23 September [18]98 (collection) 'IT'S FROM AN OUTLANDISH PLACE IN AMERICA... FETCH THE MAP!': A CONVERSATION PIECE ON THE ARRIVAL OF A LETTER FROM AMERICA. The arrival of such a letter was clearly an occasion of great excitement for any family in the 1830's, and our series of sketches bring to life the immediacy and wit of family discourse, with all its impatience and diversions. As the accompanying note by Mary Lemann attests, Browning was present when the letter was read and he sketched rapidly during the ensuring discussions: "...The rapidity with which our friend drew off these sketches was perfectly wonderful – while we (then) young people plied him with paper & pen - & sometimes only pencil...". The letter in question was sent by Mary Earles' brother, William, who travelled to America in the 1830's, and wrote home with vivid accounts of his travels, the correspondence offered in the present sale (see lot 183). As he left Liverpool, he urged his sister Mary to show his letters to "...as many others as you may think fit...", so it is easy to imagine his letter being passed from hand to hand by friends and family as depicted here. It may even be identified as the letter dated 24 November 1833 in which he describes travelling through the Creek Nation "...to the Falls of the Tallapoosee river...", the place name which caused so much merriment back in England. Robert Browning, Snr (1782-1866), father of the poet Robert Browning, was not encouraged to pursue his love of literature and art by his family, and spent the majority of his career as a clerk at the Bank of England. There he met his friend Francis G. Lemann (1779-1896), whose son Henry Rodolph Walker Lemann (1812-1899) married Mary Earles (1814-1902). Also see lot 137 for more sketches by Browning. Provenance: Mary Lemann (née Earles, 1814-1901), sister of William Earles (1813-1836); thence by descent.