[Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, physician and medical author.] Autograph Letter Signed ('B W Richardson') to 'Dr Cleveland' [William Frederick Cleveland], regarding a University of St Andrews dinner and testimonial for George Edward Day.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the blank second leaf of the bifolium. Folded twice. With regard to the University of St Andrews, where he and Cleveland received their medical education, Richardson writes that he is 'very pleased to hear from Dr Paul' that Cleveland 'will attend our University dinner. We shall have a very agreeable and I believe successful meeting'. As Cleveland is 'so kind as to subscribe to Dr Day's testimonial', Richardson asks if he will send his subscription, 'and with it your carte de visite and your Autograph on a small slip of white paper, for a testimonial album which is to accompany the testimonial'. George Edward Day (1815-1872) was Chandos Professor of Anatomy and Medicine at the University of St Andrews. 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'.