ARCHITECTURE - ROBERT ADAM Autograph letter signed ('Robt Adam') to a client ('My Lord'), explaining that '...All the four Brothers have been so much & so constantly employed in settling & arranging our different affairs that we have been able to think of nothing else for some time past. I am hopeful we shall at last get over all our difficultys...', regretting that the present situation prevents him from fixing a date for meeting in Edinburgh '...& setting things agoing...', but grateful for his help in settling things with the Trustees, undertaking '...to fix Belwood immediately to see the works carried into execution, as I know him to be capable, Honest & Diligent...', concluding that '...this Emergency...' obliges him to collect all the debts owed to him, and will send a '...small Bill for drawings done since last settlement...', 3 pages on a bifolium, dust-staining and light foxing, some wear at folds, small tears, holes, but overall in good and attractive condition, 4to (227 x 185mm.), Adelphi, 15 August 1772 Footnotes: 'ALL THE FOUR BROTHERS HAVE BEEN SO MUCH & SO CONSTANTLY EMPLOYED': Robert Adam and his brothers face financial disaster over the Adelphi Project. The Adelphi - the great speculative development in London built by the four Adams brothers - had been begun in 1768 but fell a victim of the financial crash of July 1772. It was to be saved only by a lottery authorised by Act of Parliament the following year. Although it seems clear that this is the 'emergency' referred to in this letter, the work being undertaken for Adam's unnamed correspondent cannot, as yet, be firmly identified. The titled recipient was evidently based in Edinburgh and it seems, from the reference to 'setting things agoing' that construction had not yet started. It also seems reasonably to infer, from the reference to giving 'your Lo[rdshi]p & every body entire Satisfaction', that it was a public rather than a purely private commission. This might point to Adam's correspondent being his friend Lord Frederick Campbell who, as Lord Clerk Register, was responsible for commissioning Edinburgh's Register House, where the public records of Scotland were to be housed. Adam's designs for Register House are dated 1771 and building begun in 1773. The work was supervised by Adam from London, with occasional visits being made by his brother John, who was living in Edinburgh. The reference in our letter to 'Belwood' is almost certainly to William Belwood (1739-1790), the Yorkshire architect and surveyor who was assisting Adam at this period. However the clerk of works responsible for day-to-day supervision when building began a year or so later was not to be him but James Salisbury who was, like Belwood, an Englishman. By the time work was fully underway in 1774, Belwood had set up his own architectural practice in York and so was otherwise employed. While Adam's assurance that Belwood would 'immediately' see 'the Works carried into execution' could be thought to imply a less long-term enterprise than Register House; his tendering 'a small Bill for drawings done since last Settlement' does indeed fit in with such a project (in which case, 'the Works' might refer to a specific task such as the digging of the foundations). For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing