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English

William Hone to John, Robert, and Charles Childs, 6 February, 1830

[1780-1818] - [1818-1824] - [1825-1832] - [1832-1842] - Hone Correspondence

William Hone to John, Robert, and Charles Childs, 6 February, 1830.1-TEI-

Gracechurch Street
6 Feb. 1830, 6 p.m.
Dear Δ

I arrived safe at ten minutes before 8 in Leadenhall Street, having picked up, by the way, from the Inspector of mails who accompanied me inside half way to Bury, that the contractors for the Mail we were then riding in lost £600 a year by running it, and that they were then in negotiation to be allowed by the Post Office to carry the bags in a whisky.2 I take this to be very business-like & to have your approbation for the scriptorial development.

The letter to Julian Athinson I enclosed, & sent by hand, to him in Tower Street.

Oh my—my cloak—not mine, for it belongs to a friend—I mean "the Cloak I left behind me"—(to say nothing of my snuff canister with at least 1 oz & 1/2 of Roman Smiths No. 37 in it) what can you do for me as regards the said cloak? is it conveyable hither? If you will consign it somehow or other it will do me a kindness, & my friend justice.

Mr. Fry is well pleased with the Yarmouth transaction.3 I was at Barclays & got the antimony, without which the stereotype of life produces few impressions, & handed it to Fry immediately—he is my founder, & approves of the quantity.4

I shall now have kind remembrance of my home at your home, and not easily forget the friends I saw there. With an eye to business I shall send you cards of address &c. as soon as I am sufficiently advanced to print[?] them, and if uncle Filby shows his face he may expect to be doubled-up to a Tea.

I am going home to see my wife. My respectful regards to Mrs J. childs. I was frozen up to town, and I remain

Yours unthawed at present,
with [one word] ever,[?]
W Hone

[Addressed:]
For
Messrs J. R. & C. Childs
Bungay
Suffolk

Notes
1
British Library, Add. MS 40120, ff. 337-38. [return]
2
A small-one horse gig (as opposed to the larger mail coach in which Hone was riding). [return]
3
It is not entirely clear what "the Yarmouth transaction" is, though in an earlier letter Hone mentions that he may be going to Yarmouth in order to sell his autograph collection to a collector by the name of Dawson Turner. [return]
4
Again, the specific reference is unclear, probably relating to a recent conversation between Childs and Hone. Antinomy is a metal which, when blended with lead and tin, produced the alloy used for molding individual type and stereotype plates—hence the reference to Fry as "founder." [return]
William Hone. Date: 2014-04-22