[Sir George Edward Paget, Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge.] Autograph Letter Signed ('G E. Paget') to 'James', i.e. his brother Sir James Paget, regarding a trip to London to dine with 'the Imperial Federationists at the Freemason's Tavern'.

Author: 
Sir George Edward Paget (1809-1892), eminent physician and academic, Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge [his brother Sir James Paget (1814-1899), eminent pathologist and physiologist]
Publication details: 
Cambridge; 2 July 1886.
£80.00
SKU: 21788

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. After thanking him for his 'last (and other) kind letters', he continues: 'After some hesitation (smile?) I have made up my mind to keep my engagement tomorrow to dine with the Imperial Federationists at the Freemason's Tavern. Therefore I shoud be very glad if you could – if it can be managed by Lydia [i.e. Sir James's wife] without great inconvenience – find me a bed for tomorrow Saturday night.' It 'goes against' his 'cooler judgment to take the journey only for the aforesaid dinner', and seeing them all in Harewood Place 'will be an (additional) pleasure making the journey more reasonable'. 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'.