[Anthony Shepherd, Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, after whom his friend Captain Cook named a group of islands.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking the recipient to consult ‘the Arundelian Mss’ with regard to Burnham Rectory in Norfolk.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which notes his unpopularity at his college Christ’s, which terminated his fellowship in 1783. According to Fanny Burney he was ‘dullness itself’. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged and browned paper. Folded for postage. Signed ‘A. Shephard Plume’s Profr. / Camb.’ The recipient is not named. The letter, which relates to a lawsuit begun two years previously (and which, according to the Oxford DNB ‘dragged on until 1805’), begins: ‘Sir, / I should be much obliged to you for consulting the Arundelian Mss to see if you find any thing amongst them relating to the Priory of Cokesford in Norfolk and its claim on the Rectory of Burnham in the same county.’ He will call on the recipient shortly, ‘to know the result of your searches’.