TALBOT2712

BM

3^d March 1874

My dear Sir,

You will receive this letter to let you know that M^r Fr. Lenormant ¹ has come over and is engaged studying Assyrian As I think you said you would come to town this month you might like to see him before he returns to Paris which will be in about a week The last I heard of Mr Smith ² was that he was excavating with 30 350 labourers but it did not appear to me that he had discovered any thing very new although several fragments helping to complete our collection had been excavated Our Secretary Mr Cooper ³ will have told you all about the next Assyrian volume of Records of the Past. ⁴ The first one has proved fairly successful

Yours very trly

S Birch

H Fox Talbot Esqe