[William Oliver of Bath, celebrated physician.] Autograph Prescription Signed ('W O'), 'For ye Right Honble The Lord Palmerston', endorsed 'Dr. Oliver's Purge that will work Gently –'.

1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount on reverse, which is endorsed: 'Dr. Oliver's Purge that will work Gently –'. Folded three times. Headed: 'For ye Right Honble | The Lord Palmerston'. Customary prescription, in Latin, over seven lines, beginning as usual with 'Rx'. At foot: 'W O | Octbr 9 1734'. 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'.