Offered here is a historically significant 1828 letter in which a gentlemen seeks membership in the Thistle Golfing Club of Leith. 

Thistle Golf Club played its golf on the Leith Links alongside the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Among its many noteworthy accomplishments, Thistle Golf Club may be best known for producing one of the first formal Rules of Golf in 1824. Just how early is this 1828 letter in relation to golf history? Well, the first-ever mention of a golf course being 18 holes wasn't until nearly two decades later when the newly-named Royal & Ancient released its own set of rules.

Copied on the bottom of this letter is the name Joseph Cundell, one of the founders and Captains of the Leith Golfing Society. This letter survived the past 190 years because some of Cundell's golf papers, including the offered letter, were discovered well-preserved in a tin box a couple decades ago. This letter is professionally framed to an overall size of 16" x 18".