Valetta.
Feb^y 5. 1846.

My dear Sir,

The Great Liverpool has just arrived, and I am truly vexed to say that she has not brought my paper; this I am sure you can well imagine, and it is the more provoking, as I have arrived at a great certainty, and excellence in operating: this Oriental C^o is most uncertain in transmitting parcels; and so much so, that I am really afraid of sending my negatives to you, unless I sh^d find some private opportunity.

Talbot ^<1> tells me that the best method to ensure security will be to send the parcel of paper to M^r Hill, Agent to the Peninsular and Oriental C^o at Southampton, with a request to him to send it to me; and I will write by todays post to him, with a petition to the same effect.

I now like the working of the paper infinitely more than that of the plates, ^<2> and find it much more certain; if you c^d only manage to quicken the operation, plates w^d never be used again.

I write in extreme haste, as a French steamer has just come in and goes on directly. I am happy to add that Lady Charlotte ^<3> seems more comfortable and better during the last week, God grant it may last; with united kind regards believe me

yours sincerely
Calvert R. Jones. Junr

I have written to beg M^r Hill to send the parcel by the Oriental which leaves Southampton the 20^th.

---

Notes:

1. His close friend, Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.

2. ‘Paper’, calotype process; ‘plate’, daguerreotype process.

3. Lady Charlotte Butler (1809–1846), wife of ‘ Kit’ Talbot.