32 Dover S^{t <1>}
Friday

My dear Henry

The precious Box came safely “to hand” as they say – and no time was lost in opening it – the Books are indeed most curious & valuable and will form a great & most interesting addition to the Library at Markeaton. ^<2> I am however still more anxious that you should have their History either printed or Photographed & somehow inserted into each volume. –

M^r Mundy desires me to thank you extremely for such a handsome present – which he hopes to do again in person when you return to London – so pray come & look in upon us in the course of the next week – Uncle Harry ^<3> gave a very good account of Edward Digby ^<4> when he came to see me yesterday – the only fear is that he will do too much – Uncle H^y goes down to Melbury ^<5> Tomorrow. – Jane ^<6> & C^o come from Treguny[?] on the 6^th –

Y^rs Aff^ly
H G^a Mundy

Thanks for Lord Galloway’s Pamphlet. ^<7> Shall I send it to the Atheneum Club or keep it till you call – I do not know your locality in London & forgot to ask you –

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Notes:

1. The address of Harriot G. Mundy and her husband William Mundy (1801-1877), politician, WHFT’s brother-in-law. [See Doc. No: 06946].

2. Markeaton Hall, Derbyshire, NW of Derby: home of the Mundy family. The Executive Committee of the Great Exhibition of 1851 published Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851: Reports by the Juries. Four volumes, illustrated by original photographic prints from negatives by Hugh Owen and Claude Marie Ferrier. In the copies given to WHFT, a dedicatory sheet was inserted (most likely printed up by him, perhaps even in response to Harriot's request in this letter): 'This Work, on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, Illustrated with Photographic Plates, being One of Fifteen Copies Given by the Royal Commissioners to H.F. Talbot, Esq. of Lacock Abbey, as The Inventor of this Branch of the Photographic Art, was by him presented to _____'. This publication caused WHFT considerable consternation at the time, for he felt that the Commissioners had stealthily and unfairly taken the job of printing the plates away from Nicolaas Henneman. For a summary of this complex situation, see Nancy B Keeler, 'Illustrating the "Reports by the Juries" of the Great Exhibition of 1851; Talbot, Henneman, and Their Failed Commission,' History of Photography, v. 6 no. 3, July 1982, pp. 257-272.

3. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3^rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).

4. Sir Edward St Vincent Digby, 9^th Baron Digby (1809–1889).

5. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.

6. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).

7. Randolph Stewart, 9^th Earl of Galloway (1800–1873), Observations on the abuse and reform of the monitorial system of Harrow School (London: T. Hatchard, 1854). Lord Galloway was an old schoolfellow of WHFT. [See Doc. No: 06947].