Obadiah Rich (1783–1850), merchant, diplomat, and bibliophile, was born at Truro, Massachusetts, but later resided in Boston where, as a young man, he was employed by Hatch. By 1809 Rich was an established merchant in Valencia, Spain. After returning to the United States in 1810, he settled two years later in Georgetown, where he was a founder of the Central Bank of Georgetown and Washington and a commissioner for the Georgetown Importing and Exporting Company. Rich served as the United States consul at Valencia from 1816 until his replacement early in Andrew Jackson’s presidency, but he moved to Madrid in 1823 in order to take charge of the archives of the American legation. While there, he collected books and manuscripts relating to the history of Spain and Latin America. Many of his purchases were later sold to American book collectors and libraries, with the bulk of his manuscript collection now housed at the New York Public Library. In 1828 Rich established a home and bookstore in London, where he published a gazetteer, A General View of the United States of America [1833; 2d ed., 1836]. He was the purchasing agent in London for the Library of Congress, 1830–50, and served as the United States consul at Port Mahon, on the Spanish island of Minorca, 1834–45. Rich maintained his London bookstore and continued to buy rare books and manuscripts until his death (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Norman P. Tucker, “Obadiah Rich [1783–1850]: American in Spain,” in Vern G. Williamsen and A. F. Michael Atlee, eds., Studies in Honor of Ruth Lee Kennedy [1977], 133–46; Benjamin Homans to James Monroe, 24 July 1815 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17]; Norwich [Conn.] Courier, 25 Oct. 1809; Georgetown Federal Republican, 10 Mar. 1815; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 15 July 1815; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 3:29, 34, 4:68, 447, 453, 7:6 [14 Feb., 6 Mar. 1816, 12 Mar. 1830, 10, 30 Dec. 1834, 18 Dec. 1845]; Rich, Bibliotheca Americana Nova; or, A Catalogue of Books in Various Languages, Relating to America, Printed Since the Year 1700 [1835]; Edwin Blake Brownrigg, Colonial Latin American Manuscripts and Transcripts in the Obadiah Rich Collection: An Inventory and Index [1978], vii–xv; William Dawson Johnston, History of the Library of Congress [1904], 1:226, 246, 350–1; Athenæum Journal of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts [1850]: 102).

gentlemen in Boston and men of equal respectability from Georgetown and Washington signed petitions and wrote letters recommending Rich in 1815. He requested a consular appointment to Málaga in his application of 22 July 1815 to Secretary of State James Monroe. Failing to receive a reply, Rich then wrote Monroe on 22 Dec. 1815 and 11 Feb. 1816 asking for an appointment to Valencia instead (all DNA: RG 59, LAR [1809–17]).