My dear Hector,
I should feel much obliged if you would slip into one of the photographic establishments and get your portrait taken for me. I write this in the hope of it reaching you sufficiently early to enable you to get it done today – If not I hope you can contrive to do it tomorrow. I have seen some capital things on the left hand side as you go up Regent Street.2 The artist is a Frenchman named Mayer3 I think. It is not far from Regent’s Circus Piccadilly.4 – If you cant spare the time then put in a claim against the blue sky of Paris during your stay there.
ever yours | John Tyndall | Thursday
RI MS JT/1/T/1478
RI MS JT/1/TYP/4/1588
[20 April 1854]: at the top of the letter LT noted details that were presumably from the envelope: ‘Hector Tyndale [Esq] | Mr. Chapman’s | 142 Strand | Royal Institution | [April] 20’. This suggests that the date of ‘April 20’ was from the postmark.
Regent Street: a major commercial street in London, England.
a Frenchman named Mayer: not identified.
Regent’s Circus Piccadilly: located in Westminster, London a junction constructed in 1819 to connect Piccadilly and Regent Street, which functioned as an important public space. It is now known as Piccadilly Circus.
Please cite as “Tyndall0923,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on