S&SWM PR papers L367

Gussage St. Michael | Near Cranborne | Dorsetshire | Aug 29th 1887

To General Pitt-Rivers

Sir,

I hope you will excuse the trespassing upon your time, but knowing that you have been kind enough to open a museum for the benefit and pleasure of the public I beg to bring under your notice one of the most interesting specimens of Assyrian art now in the British Museum viz Assur-bani-pal and his Queen, which I have reproduced in the finest parian. The price of the Bas relief is £1.10.0.

I have also modelled one of the Nineveh Bulls [insert] in plaster [end insert] size 16 in. square. The price of this is 10/-

Should you be pleased to favour me with your name as a subscriber, I think the works would prove a valuable addition to your present collection.

I remain Sir
Your obedient servant
A. Hays

Pitt-Rivers seems not to have purchased this time, but he did some six years later see Add.9455vol3_p986 /2 and on, bought from Alfred Jarvis in November 1893, a series of Assyrian reproductions by Aaron Hays. They were made by W.T. Copeland & Sons, modelled by Aaron Hays who was an amateur sculptor who worked as an attendant at the BM and also sold by Jarvis another museum attendant.

Transcribed by AP May 2011 as part of the Rethinking Pitt-Rivers project.