Letter from Manasseh Cutler to Adams & Nourse Printers, January 5, 1785

Copy Letter to Adams & Nourse Printers Ip. Jan 5. 1785

Gentlemen Yours &c. -- I am extremely mortified with respt. to my botl. paper. The errors in yr Copy are far less than, I imagine, you suppose [th?]. I have carefully compared ye sheets with yr copy since receiving yr. letter. The errors seem to be principy. owing to mistaking letters / wh. tenderd. to prevent by writing as plain as was in my power or omitting [yrs?]. They are mostly in ye. Latin & technical terms, which renders [yrs?] of very great [crossed out] importance [end crossed out] consequence. The errors are most nume-rous from p. 402 to 440. I can by no means consent yr- these pages, [illegible] hand on yours are, unless the whole erata in yours be entered in the table. From page 402 to 407 the errata is of the press, except a latin line [crossed out] [illegible] [crossed out] taken from a wrong plant (403) & lapping & loses. The word secretions p. 20, is wrong in your copy- from 425 to p. 440 your words [?Vegetice?] and Sarsapa -rilla wrong in your copy- from 441 to your end your words cypripedium, fells laid, repellent, spuirilous, antiseptic, loose & it, & your omision of the number of three plants, are wrong in your copy. Hye. pages were correct from your beginning to p 440 I should be willing almost all the rest should be omited in the table, & presume they would pass without being much noticed. I will yr. for propose- that, on condition you will reprint from p. 401 to 416- & from p. 429 to 440. I will give you 15 dollars, & rather yours it should not be done. I will add, if you think I ought to do it, I should much rather pay for reprinte- your whole set 4 sheets yr- have ym- bound yr. Vol. any- a now are, would my circumstances admit of it- and will consent to the table of errata which may be printed with a small type in one page and is not so long as in many Vol of which this I trans [inserted] t [end inserted]. But if you decline reprinting the 4 sheets, I must insist on the whole of the errata in the paper being printed in your table- such as are in your Copy (which you may see at any time) am willing to [illegible]. Otherwise, [illegible] be printed with these sheets as ya. now [illegible], and the errata not be printed, I must reprint [illegible]- do not accept your Vol. as being agreeable to contract But from which you observe in the letter, I am persuaded you will not object to my proposul- I have sent you your four sheets corrected your compliance will certainly add much to the credit of the work, and internaly retrieve the mind of your most obedient humble servant M

Spowich [crossed out] Jan 5. vro5 [end crossed out]

Gentlemen,

I received your favor [?offering?] by the port. When I went over the sheets for the purpose of noting of errata [crossed out] I think it best [end crossed out] proposed to note [crossed out] errors in grammar [end crossed out] such errors as ocurred to me, which I suppose would be noted by a very critical reader. I was, however, [crossed out] far from [end crossed out] [crossed out] being [end crossed out] not satisfied that it would best to insert them all in a table of [illegible] On the one hand it appeared to me of some consequence of it should appearthat the errors were discovered before the Vol. went into the world; on the other, many of them would not be observed by one in a 1000. I therefore sent the table to Boston [?refreshing?] that the [?Commander?] at Cambridge the Boston with do what they [illegible] best in the mater. I fully agree with you [illegible] errors in copies, or the inattention of those who were to inspect the [?sketch?], should all be considered as errors of the prefs--Nor can I suppose all the errata in the table I sent to Boston, were they to be published, would considered as errors of the prefs--many of [illegible] must have appeared evidently to be errors in the copies. [crossed out] The shore have sometimes been provided [illegible] [end crossed out] [crossed out] tables of [illegible] [end crossed out] The table of errata has sometimes been divided into two parts--1 table of the Authors errata, [illegible] of the printers to which I should have no objection in the present case. The errata of the first part of the Vol. as far as 18 page I have no concern with, or must be referred to the [?Conversation?] at [illegible] bridge. I have not read all the [illegible] printed in the second part, to have carefully gone over them since I received the letter. The errors in the copies or in the [illegible] you will find noted below--I am extremely mortified with respect to my botanical paper, or presume you yourselves are mistaken in your ideas of the number of errata in the copy--There are only two latin words wrong except a line [illegible] or five english, which you may see at any time by compairing the manuscriptwith the printed copy-- The errors in the latin in of very considerable importance, or must by no means pass as [illegible]. I will give you twenty dollars if you will reprint from page 402 to page 440--

Copy Letter Adam Nourse Jan 5th 1785 printers