Branford Author Pens Book On CT Ties With 1800s Opium Trade

BRANFORD, CT —In the early 19th century, Samuel Russell, a "mill-goods agent" from Connecticut, made his "fortune selling opium." That period, "cloaked in mystery," and Russell's exploits, are explored in a book by Branford author and Wesleyan University Visiting Scholar Richard Friswell.

Friswell, who directs the Wesleyan Institute for Lifelong Learning, has written his third book on topics of "cultural history through the imagined eye of a cultural historian and storyteller."

A writer, historian, educator and lecturer, Friswell's book is "Merchants of Deceit: Opium, American Fortune & the China Trade." The work combines historical research of life in Canton, China, during the China trade period of 1820 to 1840, and the Connecticut trader's role in it.

"The beauty of the Russell House on the Wesleyan campus, where I teach, always intrigued me," Friswell told Patch. "I was amazed to discover Russell's history and spent three years researching the feudal Chinese empire and China Trade during the early 1800s. Both Britains and Americans made fortunes there, and I was doubly surprised to learn how those troves were spent, once these men came home."

The Russell Library in Middletown was built with opium money, supplied by Russell's widow in the 1870s, Friswell said.

The book explores a "little-known chapter in American history" for Western businessmen and the Chinese, living under the centuries’-old rule of dynastic emperors, Friswell notes. A time when "an elusive game of cat and mouse that would, in turn, alter the course of world history."

Friswell's book, a work of historical fiction, was published by Hammonasset House Books in Clinton. It tells the tale of Russell, a "restless and ambitious man of 30" who'd arrived in China after a "tempestuous months’-long sea passage," to make a fortune and name for himself.

Friswell received his MPhil from Wesleyan and was awarded the Rulewater Prize for interdisciplinary scholarship. A cultural historian, he's also associate director of the WILL program and managing editor of ARTES, a fine arts e-magazine. An elected member of the International Art Critics Association, he's also the author of a collection of autobiographical short stories, Balancing Act: Postcards from the Edge of Risk and Reward.

Friswell has made his book available at libraries including the Blackstone Library in Branford, the Hagaman Memorial Library in East Haven, the Guilford Free Library, the Scranton Memorial Library in Madison, and the Henry Carter Hull Library in Clinton. The book about Russell is also found at his namesake library in Middletown.

He is also author of another work of historical fiction, "Hudson River Chronicles: In Search of the Splendid & Sublime on America's 'First' River."

"Merchants of Deceit: Opium, American Fortune & the China Trade," at 310 pages with 40 illustrations, can be purchased or ordered at local booksellers like R J Julia or Barnes & Noble as well as by online sellers including Amazon.