Letter 2700

Hyde, Bobart, and Wanley have been discussing an Arabic coin that is so battered it cannot be read. He will return the French book Sloane sent him as soon as he finds a reliable carrier. He mourns the loss of some draughts, which had ‘an exactness not observed by others’. Hyde cannot understand how carriers can lose what is entrusted to them. He asks for a copy of a work he struggling to get hold of and for financial help so he can complete his book. He is currently raising money through subscription but fears it will not be enough. Hyde asks Sloane where to leave the papers. Hyde was the librarian of the Bodleian Library from 1665 to 1701. He possessed excellent linguistic skills in eastern languages, especially ancient Persian and Arabic (P. J. Marshall, Hyde, Thomas (16361703), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14336, accessed 19 June 2013]).