Look at what I found!

An ordinary 1837 volume from the collected works of Samuel Johnson, bought at a fundraiser book sale at my college for about a dollar. Ho hum...

But...but...look! While flipping though the pages I found a letter!

It's from a London law office and was penned in 1864!

And here is what it says:

5 Grays Inn Square

14th Sept. 1864

Dear Sir;

Yourself ~ Nash

Mr. Johnson is out of town but

is expected back in a day or two

when he will see Mr. Thistlethwaite

and come to some arrangement

with him if possible.

Yours Truly,

S.W. Johnson

per [CL?] Osborne

[unclear] [unclear]

Ridgway Villa

Torquay

Fabulously exciting I know. I investigated on the Net a little and found a lawyer named Saffery William Johnson operating at 5 Grays Inn Square in the 1850s-70s, part of the firm of Johnson and Coote. The Osborne writing the note must have been a clerk for Johnson (perhaps the CL that seems to be in front of his name indicates this); Nash, the note's apparent recipient who lived in Torquay, I have not nailed down. Was the copy of Johnson's works owned by Nash? It seems likely. What fun!

CD