Eve Frank, "The Lady" [daughter of the Messiah Claimant Ya'akov Frank]. Handwritten letter, addressed to the merchant Jean Hartmann Lindheimer in [Frankfurt] Sachsenhausen. Offenbach, October 20 1792. The letter concerns food supply for the Frankist Sect, led by Frank.
"I did not want to inconvenience you again but need obliges me, because I do not have enough sugar to share amongst the poor people, so I have waited a while with the exchange [cash] until I have asked you to be kind enough to send me a single centnar [centnar: today 50 kilo] of sugar again. In case you have fine white sugar I would prefer that. I hope you won't refuse me. Also, if you have 5 centnars of rice, or 5 centnars of millet, or 10 centnars of barley, whichever of these three types you have, and could let me have one of the, it would make me enormously happy. The exchange will follow quickly as soon as I have the reply through my servants. I will be very grateful to you for the news you will be able to bring me soon. I have the pleasure to thank you… Eve Frank".
[Frank does not use "kilogram" as a weight unit but uses Centnar, which equals to 50 kilograms of our days]. German.
Ya'akov Frank (1726-1791) was a Jew who claimed to be and introduced himself as a Messiah in Poland, in the 18th century and was considered as a follower of Shabtai Zvi. Frank was followed by a sect of believers, "Frankists", and in the autumn of 1759 he converted to Christianity with some of his followers. Many studies were written about him, delineating his life and its vicissitudes.
Eve Frank (1754-1816) his daughter, named "The Lady" or the "Holy Matron [mother]", served as a central figure in the rituals of the sect while he was still alive, and after his death she continued to run the sect in Offenbach and later in Poland, with her two younger brothers. Under her leadership the sect thinned and its financial resources were almost gone completely. In 1816, after her assets were confiscated, Eve died with in poverty. The sect fell apart after her death.
Exceptionally rare document.
Leaf folded into 2, 23 cm. Good condition. On the back is the address of the receiver and remnants of a wax seal, a small piece of the leaf is missing.