Sir J. Herschel
Athenaeum Club, <1> London
20 Octr 1847
Dear Sir
I have to thank you for a copy of your most beautiful and welcome work on Astronomy <2> – You may indeed say Exegi monumentum ære perennius. <3>
To show you that I have not been altogether idle in the cause of science I have sent you per Railway a small collection of photographic views in various styles comprising shipping a tree in winter, &c, &c. Some of them are by my friends, which shows that a genuine knowledge of the art is spreading.
Believe me yours very truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. John Frederick William Herschel, Results of Astronomical Observations Made during the Years 1834, 5, 6, 7,8 at the Cape of Good Hope; Being the Completion of a Telescopic Survey of the Whole Surface of the Visible Heavens, Commenced in 1825 by Sir J. F. W. Herschel (London: Smith and Elder, 1847).
2. Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall, London: WHFT’s club; a gentleman’s club composed primarily of artists and scientists.
3. ‘I have built a monument more lasting than bronze’, Horace, Odes III.xxx.