S. Birch Esq B. Musm
Edinburgh 13 Great Stuart St
10 Febry 1871
My Dear Sir
I am very much flattered that my name should have been thought of, as the first President of the Biblico Archæological Society but it is an honour which I cannot accept.<1> – I am very seldom in London and I am spending the present winter with my family in Edinburgh –
The distance is too great to allow of my coming up to London, as I am a bad traveller, especially in winter.
The same reason prevents my wishing my name to appear among the members of the Council – I should be among the non-effectives, but a young Society requires an active Council.
All I can do, is to contribute some short papers occasionally if it is the intention of the Society to publish a journal, or transactions.<2>
In my opinion, your name ought to be proposed as President, and I shall be glad to hear that you have accepted the Office.<3>
I wish the members proposing to join the Society were more numerous, but much may be done by a limited number if they publish their researches and if those prove interesting and valuable, more members would join. The chief use of a numerous body of members is to render such publication possible, the great expense of printing being a discouragement to individual enquirers.
As you say that the Museum is now issuing the new volume, may I ask you to request the proper authority to forward my copy to Edinburgh at the address I have given above?<4>
Believe me Yours vy truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. President of the Society of Biblical Archæology - see Birch's invitation: Doc. No: 09753.
2. In 1872, the first volume of The Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology was published - WHFT was a regular contributor and they published an important obituary of him upon his death.
3. In the end, Birch did become the inaugual President.
4. British Museum, Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, v. 3, 1870. Birch readily agreed to WHFT's request - see Doc. No: 09757.