Description

Description: Viscount Mahon’s (Philip Stanhope) autograph letter signed invites Smyth to a dinner to meet his fellow officers of possibly the South Staffordshire Regiment that started as the 38th Regiment. The letter is also an attestation of Admiral’s Smyth’s promptitude.

“My dear Admiral Smyth

Knowing your punctuality on all occasions I am sure that a note I sent you on Tuesday must have miscarried. It was to ask the favor of your company to dine on this day week the 27th to meet your brother officers of the soldiers [?] of Antigua.

Ever Yours faithfully/Mahon”

Written on a 7” x  4½”  bi-fold sheet of  ivory laid paper, dated “20.5.1854” . Item #A01825

Philip Stanhope, Viscount Mahon (1805-1875), the 5th Earl of Stanhope, was an English antiquarian, historian, and Tory politician. He served under Robert Peel as Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He is especially noted for his contributions to the preservation of culture. He had a prominent role in passing the Literary Copyright Act of 1842, was responsible for proposing and organizing the National Portrait Gallery of London (1856), and started the Historical Manuscript Commission, 1869. The most notable among his books are on the histories of England and his collected notes on Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, who was averse to the notion of “truth” in “recollected history.”

William Henry Smyth (1788-1865) was an English Royal Navy Officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist. He is noted for his involvement in the early history of a number of learned societies and authored numerous books. His Bedford Catalogue, Vol II of the Cycle of Celestial Objects (1844), containing his 1,604 double stars and nebulae, became a standard reference work for many years. It was reprinted in 1986. In 1845, he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and then the Presidency of the Society.

Condition: Mounting remnants on verso of blank page, generally very good condition.