Scarce missionary autograph letter with interesting content on the "awkward" nature of printing by lithography in Jakarta. This was perhaps the last Jakarta publication. Later in 1842, Medhurst would move to Shanghai to establish the London Missionary Society Press there.
Walter Henry Medhurst [1796-1857] was a pioneering English missionary to China and, along with Robert Morrison, one of the earliest translator of the Scriptures into the native language.
The present letter has reference to the first edition of Medhurst's Chinese and English Dictionary, Containing all the Words in the Chinese Imperial Dictionary, Arranged According to the Radicals [1842].
"Batavia [i.e. Jakarta, Indonesia], Feb 25, 1842
My dear Sir,
I send you here with 20 copies of a Chinese Grammar for sale. They are printed by lithography, and therefore look awkward, but they are sufficiently clear for learners. The price here is a dollar and a half: but I should think that in England five or six shillings will be enough. Just put an advertisement in the Missionary Magazine, and one in a Literary and Scientific Journal, and I dare say you will sell them.
Mr. Linsey has charge of them and will deliver them to you on demand. Having written to you so recently I have no more to add. I remain
Yours truly,
W. H. Medhurst"