Autograph letter to Mr. Storer.

A.L.S., 1p. 4to. [London], India House, November 26th,

A rare letter by Horsburgh aiding an acquaintance. It reads in part: "...The bearer Mr. Storer, is the Gentleman whom I mentioned to you, has a wish to procure some thin China paper...".   Horsburgh was a Scottish hydrographer. He worked for the British East India Company, mapping many seaways around Singapore. The quality of his charts and his correspondence with Alexander Dalrymple in the form of a 'Book of remarks' was "later published [by Dalrymple] for the East India Company as Observations on the Eastern Seas (1799). On his 1799 and 1801 visits Horsburgh was introduced to the circle which included Sir Joseph Banks, Nevil Maskelyne, and Henry Cavendish. For Cavendish he maintained, from April 1802 to February 1804, a continuous register of the barometer, taken every four hours, by day or night, at sea or in harbour, which established the diurnal variation of the barometer in open sea between 26° N and 26° S. Horsburgh's departure on retirement was delayed by his unsuccessful attempts to obtain official consent to initiate a boat survey of shoals in the China Sea, for the refinement of the charts he was constructing in Canton. On his return to London he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in March 1806" (ODNB).  The Horsburgh Lighthouse in Singapore Harbor is a fitting memorial to his work in East India waters.

Stock Code: 218905