Society of Biblical Archæology,
9 Conduit Street, W.
5. Richmond Grove, Barnsbury.
3d Octr 1873.
Dear Sir
I have been every day to the printer since the receipt of your letter, <1> he now sends you a complete proof which please let me have corrected as soon as possible
Will you further also oblige with the Ishtar <2> as next week I prepare the Societies [sic] Notices after which I go out of town for a few days.
If the Records of the Past <3> are not out before Xmas there will be a loss to the Guarantors, and the public interest will fail
Thanking you most heartily for your valuable assistance
I remain My Dear Sir Yours faithy
W. R. Cooper
H. Fox Talbot Esq
[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr DCL
&c &c &c
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Notes:
1. Letter not located.
2. In July 1873 WHFT had published ‘Legend of Ishtar descending to Hades’, Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London), v. 2, part 1, pp. 179–212 (Read 3 June 1873). WHFT’s next publication on the subject took place in June 1874 in the form of ‘Revised Translation of Ishtar’s Descent, with a further Commentary’ (Read 5 May 1874), v. 3, part 1, pp. 118–135.
3. Records of the Past being English Translations of the Assyrian and Egyptian Monuments (London: Samuel Bagster & Sons).