1856 Handwritten Signed Letter From Clergyman and Author Frederik Martin to an Unnamed Lord

On offer is an autograph letter signed, dated at South Somercotes, 20 Dec 1856. Martin writes to an unidentified Lord, apologizing for not getting the "great book" to him, and seeking clarity of some of the passages relating to Ephesus, an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometres southwest of present-day Selcuk in Izmir Province, Turkey. The book being referred to is perhaps A General Introduction To The Apostolic Epistles: With A Table Of St. Paul's Travels And An Essay On The State After Death (later second edition enlarged published in 1861) by Frederick Martin. A blind stamp is evident in the upper left corner of the first page.

Frederick Martin, M.A. ; R.D. (1803/04-1864) Rector in 1848 at South Somercotes, Lincolnshire, England, Honorary Canon of Lincoln Cathedral, and Chaplain to the Bishop of St. David's. Frederick Martin was a student or fellow of Trinity College in Oxford, Cambridge or Dublin. There is record of a Frederick Martin who entered Trinity College Cambridge in 1822 and received his MA in 1831. He went on to a career in the church and was for 16 years Rector of South Somercotes in Lincolnshire (died Dec.6, 1864) , the epithet given to him in the pre-1975 printed catalogue of the British (Museum) Library, records three works by him. He died in 1864 in South Somercotes.

This item measures 8-½ x 7 inches unfolded. The writing is on three leaves of the folded page. The upper right corner is torn and it is age-toned. There is some anachronistic notation and evidence of it being previously pasted on its rear page. Good condition.