British Museum
2nd October 1871
My dear Sir
Your proposal is excellent and we shall be glad to have the paper on the Assyrian Mythology <1> in in <sic> the printed form – as it will be easier to have read – and all papers will be very acceptable – the great difficulty being the due supply of good material. Pray send it when ready. The first paper to be read is Ganneaus on the <illegible> <2> inscriptions – and if yours would be ready by November or December at the latest it could be read at one of the meetings
Today Mr Cooper <3> called on me by my desire and I told him to make inquiries about the printing off the papers and the number of short copies the authors would require. We still want a few more members to make up the 100 – and if you know any to enlist pray do so. The cards for the next session have been agreed to and ought to be out – in the members hands, As soon as you will let me know when it will be ready, it shall be placed on the list for a November or December Meeting. Smith’s <4> book is in William & Norgates hands and will soon be out. Have you seen Lenormants <5> last work just out on Cuneiform and the History of the early Medes. There is not much that is new and true in it
Believe me Yours vy truly
S Birch
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 09814.
2. Charles Simon Clermont Ganneau (1846–1923), archaeologist. He was working at the time on Phœnician inscriptions. [See Doc. No: 09621, Doc. No: 09623, and Doc. No: 09775].
3. William Ricketts Cooper (1843–1878) Secretary, Society of Biblical Archaeology, London.
4. George Smith (1840–1876), Assyriologist. History of Assurbanipal, translated from the cuneiform inscriptions (London: Williams & Norgate, 1871).
5. François Lenormant (1837–1883), French archaeologist. In 1871 he published Essai de commentaire des fragments cosmogoniques de Bérose d'après les textes cunéiformes et les monuments de l'art asiatique (Paris).