[General Edmund Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork and Orrery.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Cork') to 'Mr: Vuillamy' [i.e. Benjamin Lewis Vuillamy, Clockmaker to the Crown], regarding a broken watch. Also franked by him, as 'Boyle'.

Author: 
[General Edmund Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork and Orrery (1767-1856), Irish peer and soldier, styled Viscount Dungarvan, 1768-1798 [Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854), Clockmaker to the Crown]
Publication details: 
Marston. 25 November 1814.
£200.00
SKU: 21746

1p, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Franked on reverse of second leaf, with seal in red wax broken into two pieces, and franking postmark: 'Frome – November twenty fifth 1814 | Messrs: Wulliamys | Watch Maker's | Pall Mall | London | Boyle'. Reads: 'Mr: Vuillamy, | A neighbour of mine Mr: Peter Hore has taken charge of my Watch to deliver it to you, it stopped the other morning, you will therefore I beg have it repaired as soon as possible, tho' Mr: Hore has been so obliging to say, he will bring it back, in case it is finished, you may ask him how long he may leave it with you | Your well wisher | Cork'. From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library. Hunter and his mother Ida Macalpine had a particular interest in the illness of King George III, and their book 'George III and the Mad Business' (1969) suggested the diagnosis of porphyria popularised by Alan Bennett in his play 'The Madness of George III'.