M H. 13 Ap 57<1>.
My dear Sir
I returned home from Wales yesterday & found your very kind offer of your spare copy of my Babylonian Cylinder Inscription, which I most thankfully accept. For I do not like to keep Rawlinson's<2> Copy longer than I can avoid, although he has not limited me as to time, and I have not been able to get a copy yet. I thought it wd be worth your trouble as you do it so easily & well, to take some Photograph impressions of it, or persuade Halmeman [sic]<3> your London Photographer to do so. He might sell them at a reasonable rate, & enable literati to study it in this Country.
I passed by the beautiful seat of your Cousin at Margam<4> the other day, & admired the beautiful Wood adjoining it. I intended to take Lady P<5> to see the seat of her Ancestors while I was in Wales, but events occurred to interrupt me.
I went however to see the seat of those whom I believe to have been my own ancestors, at Picton Castle,<6> according to our family tradition, & according to the Monument at Winchester College.<7>
I had an opportunity of seeing the ancient Records of the family also. The oldest I saw, might have been of the time of Henry 3, but it had no date, & I judged of course by the writing.
Mrs. Talbot & your Daughter<8> I hope are quite well, & begging you to present my kind remembrances to them
Believe me my dear Sir Very faithfully yours
Thomas Phillipps
PS. There is an interesting account of LIbraries in general about to be published by Mr Edwards of Old Trafford Manchester, which, if you care the Notitia Bibliothecarum I would recommend to you.<9> The price is £1ּs16ּ Mr Edwards is the author of it, in 2 Vols.
May I ask to which work you intend regularly to send your Translations of Assyrian for I shd like to subscribe to it
[draft copy in author's letterbook, Bodleian Library:]
To W H F Talbot Esqr. Laycock Abbey Wilts
My dear Sir
I returned home from Wales yesterday & found your very kind offer of your spare copy of my Babylonian Cylinder Inscription which I most thankfully accept. For I do not like to keep Rawlinson's Copy longer than I can avoid, although he has not limited me as to time and I have not been able to get a copy yet. I thought it wd be worth your trouble as you do it so easily & well to take some Photograph impressions of it or persuaded Halmeman [sic] your London Photographer to do so. He might sell them at a reasonable rate, & enable literati to study it in this Country. I passed by the beautiful seat of your Cousin at Margam the other day & admired the beautiful Wood adjoining it. I intended to take Lady P to see the seat of her Ancestor's while I was in Wales, but events occurred to interrupt me I went however to see the seat of those whom I believe to have been my own ancestors, at Picton Castle, according to our family tradition & according to the monument at Winchester College I had an opportunity of seeing the Ancient Records of the family also The oldest I saw, might have been of the time of Henry 3, but it had no date, & I judged of course by the wrighting [sic] Mrs. Talbot & your Daughter I hope are quite well, & begging your to present my kind remembrances to them believe me my dr Sir Very faithfully yrs TP
PS There is an interesting account of Libraries in general about to be published by Mr Edwards of Old Trafford Manchester, wch if you care the notitiæ Bibliothecarum I wd recommend to you. The price is 1:16 2 Vols. Mr Edwards is the author of it.
May I ask to which work you intend regularly to send yr Translations of Assyrian, for I shd like to subscribe to it.
Notes:
1. Middle Hill, Phillipps's country seat at Broadway, Worcestershire.
2. Sir Henry Creswick Rawlinson, 1st Baronet (1810-1895), orientalist.
3. Nicolaas Henneman (1813-1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT's valet, then assistant; photographer; opened calotype printing studio in Reading in 1843 and transferred to London in 1848. From 1848-1851, this operated as Henneman & Malone, Photographers.
4. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, 'Kit' (1803-1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT's Welsh cousin. He commissioned Thomas Hopper to build the Tudor Gothic Mansion between 1830-1840.
5. Elizabeth Harriet Anne, neé Mansel1 (d. 5 Nov 1839). Phillipps was her first husband; after his death she married Rev George Digby.
6. 13th c. castle near Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
7. A 600 year old boy's school in Hampshire.
8. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (30 Jan 1811 - 9 Sep 1880), m. WHFT 20 Dec 1832. And either Ela Theresa Talbot (25 Apr 1835 - 25 Apr 1893), WHFT's 1st daughter; Rosamond Constance Talbot (16 Mar 1837 - 7 May 1906), 'Rose'; 'Monie'; artist & WHFT's 2nd daughter; died & buried at San Remo, Italy, with a memorial at Lacock.
9. Edward Edwards, Memoirs of libraries: including a handbook of library economy (London: Trübner & Co.,1859), 2 vol. He was the first librarian of the Free Library in Manchester.