How History Unfolds on Paper: Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part IX

[WHITEHALL PALACE]. Manuscript document signed by the Commissioners of the Majesties Treasury, Whitehall, 17 January 1700. 1 page, folio (305 x 222 mm), some light spotting. CONTAINS EARLY POSTAL CONTENT AND THE FIRE AT WHITEHALL. An account of expenses including “Charges in saving the books & papers of the office from the fire at Whitehal…” and “Postage of letters to Mr Short the Post Officer”. The Palace of Whitehall at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698 that included Henry VIII and was the largest and most complex palace in Europe at its height in 1691. On 4 January 1698 a fire broke out destroying most of the remaining residential and government buildings, more importantly its vast collection of artworks including Michelangelo’s Cupid. The only integral structure of the complex remaining is the Banqueting House.