Autograph Letter Signed, to Mr. Ormond, inviting him to a meeting of the Society of Antiquarians that evening

Canonmills [Edinburgh], 11 April 1831. 1 page 6½ x 8 inches, lower blank trimmed away. Uncommon. Patrick Neill (1776–1851), Scottish printer and horticulturalist, known as a naturalist. A founding member, and the first secretary, of both the Wernerian Natural History Society (1808–49) and the Caledonian Horticultural Society (1809–49), he is mainly remembered today for having endowed the Neill Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Neill's works include A Tour Through Some of the Islands of Orkney and Shetland (1806), which caused much public debate at the time, due to its descriptions of the economic misery of the islanders. He also wrote the Gardening article in the seventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. This article was subsequently expanded and published as a separate book under the title of The Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen Garden, which was very popular and ran through several editions.