[Josiah Wood Whymper, Victorian wood engraver.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J W Whymper'), congratulating the painter Sir John Gilbert on his election as an Associate Member of the Royal Academy.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of mount to the corners of the blank reverse of the second leaf. The letter begins: 'Dear Gilbert | Thomas told me yesterday - at your gallery - that he had heard you had an attack of rheumatic fever'. He hopes that this is not true, as it is 'a most painful complaint', adding: 'I beg that you will give me a line as soon as you feel well, which we al must [hope] will be very soon'. He adds: 'The weather has been bad enough to give us any, or all the maladies.' Changing the subject, he writes: 'I heard later in the day that you had been elected an A.R.A. As soon as I know you are well, I will congratulate you, upon receiving that you which [sic] you ought to have had long ago.' Gilbert was elected ARA in 1872, and RA four years later.