25th July 1876
My dear Sir,
The Trustees last Saturday determined to extend Mr Boscawens <1> probation for six months and he will I trust give satisfaction during that period. He had contravened several official regulations. Our news here of Mr G. Smith <2> is not later than the 14h June but from intelligence that has reached he left Baghdad about the 20h June it is said for Bombay. He ought to be home by the middle of August, supposing he embarks at Bombay for England. Pt I. Vol V. of the Transactions <3> will be out soon and the 7h volume of the Records of the Past <4> sooner. The volume is made up and only required a short preface. A new French Assyriologist has appeared the Comte de Blaras a young man <illegible deletion> and pupil of Oppert. <5> He has been here and at Oxford but Mr Sayce <6> is at present abroad Have you written for your Transactions of the Congress
Believe me Yours very Truly
S Birch
H. Fox Talbot EsqreNotes:
1. William St Chad Boscawen (1854–1913), Assyriologist & author.
2. George Smith (1840–1876), Assyriologist.
3. Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London).
4. Records of the Past being English Translations of the Assyrian and Egyptian Monuments (London: Samuel Bagster & Sons).
5. Prof Julius Oppert (1825–1905), German Assyriologist, active in Paris.
6. Archibald Henry Sayce (1845–1933), Egyptologist & Orientalist.