LESSEPS Ferdinand de (1805-1894) engineer and diplomat, he built the Suez Canal. 2 L.A.S. "Ferd. de Lesseps", 1855-1868; 3 and a half pages in-8 and 1 page in-4. On the Suez Canal. Paris, October 24, 1855, to M. REYNIER. He has "attached in the name of the Viceroy to the European Commission a senior officer of the British Indian Navy known for his hydrographic work on the coasts of the Red Sea and the Indian Sea". Tinant Bey and Mongel Bey are in England and will return to Paris the day after tomorrow. As for him, he will do his "best to be in Marseille two days before the Commission" Alexandria 18 August 1868. He sends to CHÉRIF PACHA a copy of the telegram that he sends in the Isthmus to M. RITT [author of the History of the Isthmus of Suez (1869)], who replaces M. VOISIN [Voisin Bey (1821-1918), one of Lesseps' main collaborators at the Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez, and Director General of Works]: "Weapons, gunpowder and tobacco are not included in the free allowance for consumer articles of any other kind on the line of the maritime canal from Port Said to Suez".