[Sir James Clark, Physician-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria.] Autograph Note Signed ('Ja Clark') to 'Mr Owen', i.e. Sir Richard Owen, regarding 'Mr Combe' sending Owen his work.

Author: 
Sir James Clark (1788-1870), Physician-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria, and to St George's Infirmary [Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892), palaeontologist; George Combe, Scottish phrenologist]
Publication details: 
No place; 14 May [no year].
£90.00
SKU: 21848

1p, 16mo. In fair condition, aged and grubby, with remains of glue from mount on reverse. Reads: 'Dear Mr Owen, | I have sent your note to Mr Combe & hope he may be able to send you the work - | Yours truly | Ja Clark'. The note has a light stamp at top left of page, stating that it is 'Ex. Litt. Ricardi Owen', and a gift to Sherborne from 'R. S. Owen'. The item must have been deacquisitioned, as it comes 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'.