Christopher Anderson, Edinburgh, to [Thomas S. Crisp], Bristol, 11 August 1840.

My dear Brother

         This will be delivered to you by David Laing Esq the Librarian to our Signet Library, a kind & obliging literary friend of mine. In passing through Bristol the chief thing he wishes to see is our Museum. Would you be so kind as [to] accompany him and let him look at whatever book he wishes to inspect, and whatever you do will be as if done to myself. Few men in Britain are better able to appreciate the Value of our rare Books.

                                 Yours always

                                             Christr Anderson

Edinh 11 August 1840.

P.S. Sarah Ann seems to be enjoying very much her visit to Caledonia, and she is about to be taken to Ben Lomond &c.

Address: none

Postmark: none

Text: University of Edinburgh, Special Collections, La. IV. 17, fols. 196-99. Thomas S. Crisp (1788-1868) served as Principal of Bristol Baptist Academy from 1825 to 1868. The Academy was widely known for its Library and Museum, which housed numerous artifacts from India and elsewhere sent to the Museum by Baptist missionaries, as well as an outstanding rare book collection derived from donations by Andrew Gifford and James Newton, among many others. Given the nature of the request by Anderson, it seems most likely his recipient was Crisp, who would have had the keys and access to the Library and Museum. The use of “Brother” by Baptists at this time in their salutations was common, and was in reference to the recipient being a “brother in Christ,” and not a familial relation of Anderson.