[Samuel Tuke, Quaker minister, asylum reformer and philanthropist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Saml. Tuke'), regarding the editorship of the 'Annual Monitor', to an unnamed 'Friend' (the magazine's printer?).

The present letter concerns the editorship of the Annual Monitor, a Quaker magazine subtitled 'Obituary of the members of the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland', published between 1812 and 1919. The founding editor was William Alexander (1768-1841), and following Alexander's death 'the Editors' referred to in the letter included Sarah Backhouse and the letter's author Samuel Tuke. The recipient would appear to be the magazine's printer. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper adhering to blank second leaf of bifolium. Folded twice. The recipient is unidentified, and the letter begins: 'Dear Friend | I presume thou will be aware that the Exrs. of the late Wm. Alexander have ceased to stand in the position of Editors of the Annual Monitor & though little if-any change will take place in the immediate management or preparation of the work the parties who have it in hand are desirous of revising the proceedings connected with its Sale'. From 1852 to 1864 the editor of the Annual Monitor would be Benjamin Seebohm (assisted first by his wife Esther W. Seebohm, and from 1863 by J.S. Sewell). 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'.