Autograph Letter, Signed, to Mathew Cooke.
Mount Melville, St. Andrews: March 12, 1863.
Price: $150.00
About the item
1-1/2 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Very good. With accompanying envelope.
Item #6948
Sent to literary editor Mathew Cooke in reply to a Prospectus for a new book being offered by subscription and Cooke’s request of an advance payment of 3 guineas, Whyte-Melville replies: “as I remitted you in advance for a book you wrote to me about, called the History & Articles of Masonry in June 1860, & never received the work, I do not feel disposed to do the same now, with perhaps a similar result...”
While The History and Articles of Masonry (a transcript of the manuscript now known as the Cooke Manuscript) was indeed published in 1861, Whyte-Melville was justified in his caution, for Monumenta Masonica was never published.
A canny letter from George Whyte-Melville (1821-1878), soldier, sportsman, and prolific Victorian writer, famed for his sporting, social and historical novels. His adventurous life ended in 1878 when he was killed instantly in an accident in the hunting field.
