31. Sackville Street
London
31st July
Thursday
My Dear Henry
The very day I received your last letter, I answered it directed to Liverpool, & now you tell me to direct to Lancaster & then to Liverpool! I went to Mr Tarrant <1> immediately & told him to bind up the 3 Nos of Part 1st <2> without delay, which he is doing, but not fast enough as people are going out of town, & most of those who have subscribed want the explanation contained in No 1 – to make them fully understand the Scotch views. <3> Many are prepossessed with the notion that though the original one was done by you & the Sun, the others are copied by Lithography, & I am obliged to explain usque ad nauseam <4> that the facility of copying which is done in a few seconds enables you to multiply au gré de vos souhaits. <5> Certainly the subscription has answered in one respect, it has drawn the attention of people who never thought on the subject before or ever heard of it.
How very unlucky that Mr Calvert Jone’s <6> [sic] relation should chuse to die just at this moment. Many people think the 3d–4th nos of Pencil of Nature worth all the Scotch views, & there certainly is more clearness in them owing I suppose to your having been in Scotland so late in the Season
Affly yours
Elisabeth F–
Notes:
1. Alfred Tarrant, London bookbinder.
2. WHFT, The Pencil of Nature (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, June 1844–April 1846 [issued in six fascicles])
3. WHFT, Sun Pictures in Scotland (London: Published by subscription in 1845).
4. Until I’m sick.
5. According to your wishes.
6. Rev Calvert Richard Jones (1802–1877), Welsh painter & photographer.