Dear Sir

Many thanks for y^r Letter Letter [sic] & acceptable promise of the old map of Breadalbane.¹ as to mine I think it will never be done so tedious is the engraver. I want much to have Lord Seaforth’s castle Braan & the 2 rivers conan & Braan² set down right, you know the place lies between Beaulie abby & Dingwall. Be so good as to get it done & return it. in may I hope to send you a 4^th vol. of Br. Zool. thanks for y^r designs ab^t Glasgow & Edinburgh.

I am Dear Sir
y^r faithful humble Serv^t

Tho. Pennant

Downing Dec^r. 31. 1776.

you must bind the big plates of the Br. Zool. by themselves according to the numbers in the q^to.³

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Editorial notes

1. Likely Robert Gordon's 'Scotiae provinciae mediterraneae inter Taum flumen et Vararis aestuarium' from Joan Blaeu's Atlas Novus (1654).
2. Possibly a reference to the river called the Black Water on modern maps, which joins the Conon above Castle Brahan and may here have been given the name of that residence by Pennant. Pennant's Map of 1777 marks a 'Loch Bran' further up the course of the Conon, though it unclear what geographical feature this corresponds to.
3. This could be a reference either to Peter Paillou's plates for the folio edition of Pennant's British Zoology (1766), or to enlarged versions of the plates for the 'Illustrated' British Zoology of 1770.