Notes: The letter notes that al-Bustani had sent volumes of the Beirut Encyclopedia, the first of its kind in Arabic, to Afghani via Salim `Anhuri. He also urges Afghani to follow through with the article he had promised. This is presumably the notorious article on the Babis. For discussion see Juan R. I. Cole, "New Perspectives on Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani in Egypt," in Rudi Matthee and Beth Baron, eds., Iran and Beyond: Essays in Middle Eastern History in Honor of Nikki R. Keddie (Costa Mesa, Ca.: Mazda Publishers, 2000), p. 23.