[Samuel Solly, eminent surgeon.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Samuel Solly'), apologising that he will be absent from 'the first Meeting of the Society'.

For information on Solly, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight damaged to second leaf caused by opening of wafer. Adhering to the second leaf is a thin strip of paper from the mount. The recipient is not identified. He is sorry that he will not be able 'to be present at the first Meeting of the Society', as he made an engagement before he 'remembered it'. He will 'endeavour to have something for the second night'. 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'.