[Dean Stanley’s ‘execrable handwriting’.] Autograph Letter Signed from Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster, to 'My dear Dictionary ' [i.e. Sir William Smith, editor of the Quarterly Review and lexicographer], about a friend of Duckworth's.

See the entries for Stanley and Smith in the Oxford DNB, the former drawing attention to Stanley’s ‘execrable handwriting’. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Nineteen lines of text. Addressed to ‘My dear “Dictionary” ’, and signed ‘A P Stanley’, but with much of what comes in between only deciperable with effort: ‘[...] salutation [...] addressing [...] Could you do anything for the enclosed? I know nothing beyond what the writer says of himself - & Duckworth’s recommendation of him which I also enclose. Duckworth (whose acquaintance I should be much obliged if you would make [...] a very pleasant neighbour) will possibly be able to give you more information, if you need it’. Accompanied by a twentieth-century note in pencil identifying the recipient as Sir William Smith, and quoting The Times, 16 July 1949, with regard to Stanley’s handwriting.