BOTANICAL

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[ Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. ] Autograph Signature ('Jos D Hooker').

Author: 
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, botanist and explorer
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£23.00

On 3 x 5 cm piece of paper. Cut from letter and with some text on reverse. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads 'Very faithfully | Jos D Hooker'.

[ Adam White, Victorian zoologist praised by Charles Darwin. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Adam White: Assistant Zool Dept Brit. Mus') to his relation Martha [Dewar], regarding family history, and his friend the author and botanist Rev. James Hamilton.

Author: 
Adam White (1817-1878), Scottish zoologist in the Zoological Department, British Museum, praised by Charles Darwin [ Rev. James Hamilton (1814-1867), Scottish minister, author and botanist ]
Publication details: 
3 Albion Grove West, Islington. 22 February 1849.
£80.00

1p., 4to. 31 lines of text, written in a neat and close hand.

[ Robert Bentley, botanist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed correspondent, regarding 'an order for the Gardens'.

Author: 
Robert Bentley (1821-1893), English botanist, Professor of Botany at King's College London
Publication details: 
King's College, London. 4 February 1873.
£56.00

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged grey paper, laid down on paper mount, and slighty discoloured by glue used. He apologises for being unable to provide him with the desired order, 'but on any particular day you may require one I shall be glad to assist you as far as I can'. He suggests that they speak 'after lecture'. In a contemporary hand, written at foot of mount: 'Professor Robert Bentley F.L.S. (Professor of Botany) Author | born 1821.'

[Pierre André Pourret, French botanist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('L'abbé Pourret') to his archbishop, concerning his benefice and the archdiocese. With the archbishop's response written on the letter.

Author: 
Pierre André Pourret [L'Abbé Pourret] (1754-1818), French abbot and botanist
Publication details: 
Brienne. 14 June 1785.
£120.00

3pp., 8vo. A long letter in a close hand. Bifolium, with each of the two leaves folded in half vertically to make two columns, with Pourret writing in the right-hand column, and the archbishop giving his responses in the other. In fair condition, lightly aged and ruckled. Docketed on reverse of second leaf 'Mgr. L'arcev. 14. 18. juin. 1785.' The letter begins: 'M. L'abbé jaubert vient de m'addresser une lettre pour votre grandeur que je m'empresse de vous faire parvenir.

[French botany in the eighteenth century.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Granier'), in French, from Dr Jean Granier of Nimes to L'Abbé Pourret.

Author: 
Dr Jean Granier (1743-1819) of Nimes [Pierre André Pourret [L'Abbé Pourret] (1754-1818), French abbot and botanist]
Publication details: 
Nîmes [France]. 19 May 1792.
£140.00

2pp., 4to. 36 closely-written lines of text. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed, with 'NISMES' postmark, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Monsieur L'abbé Pourret | membre de plusieurs academies | à Narbonne'. The letter begins: 'il est bien tems me direz vous mon cher collegue que je vous donne de mes nouvelles, et surtout des plantes que que j'ai reçues de votre part'. He proceeds to give a detailed report, naming several specimens.

[Rev. Dr Theophilus Houlbrooke, botanist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Theophilus Houlbrooke') resigning from the committee of the Liverpool Botanic Garden.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Theophilus Houlbrooke, FRS (1745-1824) of Shrewsbury and Barnes, Surrey, botanist
Publication details: 
'Green Bank' [Greenbank, Liverpool], 22 February 1815.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight damage to one corner. The letter reads: 'Gentlemen | As I must not now consider myself an Inhabitant of Liverpool, I request your permission to resign the Office of Vice President and to withdraw myself from the Committee of the Liverpool Botanic Garden and hope a more efficient Member will be elected to fill my place in each of these Departments. I am With great respect for you and every good wish for the prosperity of the Institution | Your Obliged Servant | Theophilus Houlbrooke'.

[Offprint from the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society.] The Beauty and Use of the Vintage Pear.

Author: 
Herbert E. Durham, Sc.D., etc. [Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society]
Publication details: 
['Reprinted from the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society. Volume XLIX., Part 2, 1924.'] Printed for the Royal Horticultural Society by Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd. New-Street Square, London E.C.4. 1925.
£30.00

[10]pp., 8vo, paginated 157-166. Stapled. In grey printed wraps. Inscribed at head of front cover: 'to E. Spriggs | with kind regards'. Above this, in another hand in red ink, 'DIETETICS'. One manuscript correction to the text. A historical overview, with a four-page appendix (pp.162-166) giving a list in small type of 'perry pears hitherto heard of, met with, or identified'. This offprint is scarce: no copies traced either on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

[Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island, Australia.] Two box files of scholarly material assembled by the botanist P. S. Green of Kew Gardens during a Royal Society and Percy Sladen Expedition, including botanical lists, offprints and correspondence.

Author: 
P. S. Green [Peter Shaw Green] (1920-2009), Keeper of the Herbarium and Deputy Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, author of account of Lord Howe Island and Norforlk Island in the Flora of Australia
Publication details: 
Correspondence from Australia and Great Britain, dating from between 1967 and 1975. Other material between 1954 and 1982.
£950.00

According to his obituary in the 'Kew Bulletin' (2010), Green worked '[a]lmost singlehandedly' on the account of the two islands for the 'Flora of Australia'. This collection of around 100 items contains material relating to that work, largely assembled on the spot during a Royal Society and Percy Sladen Expedition, and including correspondence with a number of experts in the field. (For list of correspondents see below.) The collection is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in matching worn red box files.

[Early nineteenth-century botanical manuscript.] Long annotated list of flora, giving 'Virgil's names' and 'Modern names' (both Latin and English) of different species, from 'Silver Fir' to 'Bon Chretien Pear'.

Author: 
[Early nineteenth-century botanical manuscript; Virgil; Publius Vergilius Maro; Regency natural history; Georgian botany; Linnaeus; G. W. Milne Redhead]
Publication details: 
No place or date. On Whatman paper with watermarked date 1822.
£75.00

4pp., 4to. On four loose leaves. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with the slightest ruckling to the first leaf. Neatly and closely written out. A scholar's working copy, with deletions, emendations, and notes in the margin. As an example, the first page carries 39 entries in ink, with an additional entry in pencil. The third entry reads: 'Acanthus G. IV. 123 [with '3E 45.' added in pencil] Acanthus mollis, Smooth Brank-Ursine'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Fitzroy Maclean') from Sir Fitzroy Maclean, thanking the London bookseller R. E. B. Sawyer for giving his opinion of his botanical drawings.

Author: 
Sir Fitzroy Maclean (1911-1996), Scottish soldier and author best-known for 'Eastern Approaches' [R. E. B. Sawyer of the London booksellers Charles J. Sawyer & Co]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Strachur House, Argyll [Scotland]. 25 April 1978.
£120.00

1p., 12mo. On light-blue paper. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. He thanks Sawyer for his letter and enclosure, found on his return and read 'with the greatest interest'. 'It was extremely kind of you to come and look at my botanical drawings and I am most grateful for the information you have been able to give me. It was marvellous to be able to have the opinion of a real expert.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('H: B: Fielding') from Henry Borron Fielding, inviting the recipient to join the Earl of Burlington, Earl Stanhope and Professor Owen as trustees on presentation of his herbarium and library to London Royal Botanical Society.

Author: 
Henry Borron Fielding (1805-1851), botanist [Fielding Herbarium, University of Oxford; London Royal Botanical Society; Earl of Burlington; Earl Stanhope; Sir Richard Owen; James De Carl Sowerby]
Publication details: 
Bolton Lodge, Lancaster. 6 January 1842.
£180.00

2pp., 12mo. 29 lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of previous mounting, and the annotation '13/19' in a contemporary hand. A significant letter relating to an important collection. Fielding bequeathed his herbarium and botanical library to the University of Oxford where, as the Oxford DNB explains, they formed for many years 'one of the key resources for the study of botany'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the poet Jean Ingelow to 'Mrs Oliver' [Hannah Oliver, wife of Professor Daniel Oliver].

Author: 
Jean Ingelow ['Orris'] (1820-1897), poet and writer [Hannah Oliver (1833-1919), wife of Daniel Oliver (1830-1916), Professor of Botany, University College, London]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 8 Holland Villas Road, Kensington, W.; 'Thursday' [no date].
£56.00

4pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Ingelow begins by asking Mrs Oliver to thank 'the Professor' for her. 'I am much interested in his singular reproduction of the curious relics of ornament'. She would like to lunch with the Olivers, but 'We have some cousins coming to stay with us next Monday till the end of the week & I do not see how it can be done as they will like me to go about, with them to the exhibitions &c They live not many miles from Kew [where Professor Oliver was Keeper of the Herbarium and Library] & it would not interest them to go there again'.

Autograph Manuscript of the American actor and poet John Howard Payne, either an original poem or a translation, entitled 'Ode the Sixteenth. | The Herb Rue'.

Author: 
John Howard Payne (1791-1852), American actor and playwright, best-known for his song 'Home, Sweet Home'
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£165.00

2 pp, 4to. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight wear to extremities. On one leaf, with both sides ruled with red borders. In Payne's neat and distinctive hand, and attributed to him in pencil at head.

[Printed Victorian botanical handbill advertisement.] American Blackberry Rooted Cuttings, Kittatinny Variety. Imported by D. C. Lowber, 35, Chapel Walks, Liverpool. [Including text on 'THE AMERICAN BLACKBERRY.']

Author: 
D. C. Lowber [originally of New Orleans], Liverpool Merchant [American Blackberries, Kittatinny Variety; botanical ephemera]
Publication details: 
[Circa 1875.] D. C. Lowber, 35, Chapel Walks, Liverpool.
£28.00
American Blackberry Rooted Cuttings

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Attractive engraving of a blackberry cutting. The second page is headed 'THE AMERICAN BLACKBERRY', and begins 'There is scarcely a more wholesome fruit than this, and one that has been more improved by judicious cultivation on the American side of the water.' The text, which continues to the last page and is signed in type by Lowber, contains two quotations from 'Rev. E. P. Roe, one of the most celebrated small fruit culturists on the banks of the Hudson'. In manuscript at foot of third page: '15/- per doz.

Autograph Letter Signed from the physician and writer John Aikin to the botanist Richard Pulteney.

Author: 
John Aikin (1747-1822), English physician and writer, son of John Aikin (1730-1780), Scottish theologian, and brother of Anna Letitia Barbauld (1743-1825) [Richard Pulteney (1730-1801), botanist]
Publication details: 
19 January 1776; Warrington.
£280.00
Autograph Letter Signed from the physician and writer John Aikin

8vo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Thirty-five lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Second leaf addressed, with postmarks, to 'Dr. Pultenely | Blandford | Dorset', and docketed by Pulteney. Signed 'John Aikin'. He thanks him for 'the offer of assistance'. He only has 'one of the three books you mentioned, & should be very glad of the perusal of Anthony's apology, & Jones on Buxton baths'. The books willl be 'carefully returned, with my best acknowledgments to the gentleman who favours me with the loand of them'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Lowell') to Rainford, concerning a consignment of botanical books from England.

Author: 
John Amory Lowell (1798-1881), American businessman and philanthropist [Edward Rainford, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
19 June 1843; Boston.
£195.00

4to, 1 p. Twenty-one lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged, stained and worn paper, with a couple of small spike holes. Revealing, in the attention to detail which it exhibits. He begins by reporting that 'the Rosabella arrived safe & the books appear to be correct with the following exceptions'. Two paragraphs follow, carefully describing duplicate plates and other faults in the books received (including "Genus Plantarum"). The replacements may be sent 'through Wilmer & Smith, booksellers, Liverpool - or by Harden's express - or through Messrs. John D.

Nos. 85, 106 and 108 of 'The Naturalists' Leisure Hour and Monthly Bulletin.'

Author: 
A. E. Foote, editor (natural history bookseller of Philadelphia [geological reports]
Publication details: 
October 1884, July 1887 and March 1888. 1223 Belmont Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa.
£185.00

Each catalogue 8vo, 32 pp. Stapled and unbound. The text of all three items clear and complete. On aged and spotted paper. Each issue carries an editorial introduction, with that of October 1884 (no. 85) eight pages long, and boasting that it is 'the most complete catalogue of American Official Geological Reports ever published. The previous lists of Prime and Marsh have been consulted, but very many have been added during the period covered by Prime'.

No. 20 of the 'Bibliotheca Entomologica'.

Author: 
Felix L. Dames, German natural history publisher and bookseller
Publication details: 
Berlin: Tasuben-Strasse 47. 1892.
£35.00

8vo, 90 pp. Stitched and unbound. 3328 priced items. Text clear and complete. On aged paper.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Conde de Funchal'), in French, to 'Mr. Falconet, Avocat Celebre a Paris'.

Author: 
Domingo Antonio de Souza-Coutinho, Conde de Funchal (fl 1803-1833), Portuguese diplomat, Ambassador to England, and botanist [Ambroise Falconet? Jacques Récamier?]
Publication details: 
1 March 1816; Florence, Italy. Carrying postmarks and seal in red wax with impression of family crest.
£85.00

8vo, 2 pp. Twenty-two lines of text. Bifolium. Address, postmark and seal on reverse of otherwise-blank second leaf of bifolium. On aged and lightly creased paper, chipped and foxed. Text clear and entire. Acting on Falconet's advice, the Count has sent 'une Procure en regle à Mr Recamier [husband of the celebrated Madame Récamier?] à fin qu'il puisse retirer l'argenterie des mains de Mr Delamarre à l'expiration des trois mois'. He is grateful for Falconet's assistance in terminating 'cette facheuse affaire'.

A Letter to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone upon a Land Scheme for Ireland.

Author: 
Charles Baron Clarke (1832-1906), British botanist [William Ewart Gladstone]
Publication details: 
London: Macmillan and Co. 1881.
£56.00

Octavo: twenty pages. Unbound and stitched. Good, but with outer leaves a little grubby and creased. The word 'rack-rent' on page six has been underlined and three exclamation marks placed beside it in ink. As well as important botanical works, Clarke numbered political economy and education among his interests.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to [F. J.] Epps[, F.G.S.]

Author: 
Sir Philip Manson-Bahr
Publication details: 
The first, 24 May 1951, on letterhead 'THE OLD COTTAGE, | POOTINGS, | NR. EDENBRIDGE, | KENT.'; the second, 3 January 1952, on letterhead '149, HARLEY STREET, W.1. | (MARYLEBONE ROAD END)'.
£80.00

English physician specialising in tropical medicine (1881-1966). Both 1 page, 16mo. Both dusty but in good condition. The first on blue paper the second on light green. In the first letter he says he is 'glad to be able to report that my paper has been written & is now being typed out. It has taken me many hours to do so in order to make it interesting & attractive to the non-medical reader. Whether I have succeeded in doing so I must leave to you to decide.' He says the paper 'should be in your hands by Monday next.

3 Autograph Letters Signed and 1 Autograph Card Signed [to his publishers?]

Author: 
James Britten
Publication details: 
The letters, 21 and 31 May and 29 July 1883, all from Isleworth; the card, 20 [month?] 1890, stamped '18, WEST SQUARE | SOUTHWARK, S.E.'
£125.00

Botanist and Roman Catholic propagandist (1846-1924). All but the second letter, which is addressed 'Gentlemen', are addressed 'Dear Sirs'. The letters are all 12mo, and embossed at the head of the first leaf 'NOX VENIT QUANDO NEMO POTEST OPERARI'. In letter 1 (1 page) he asks that his 'Collecting book of Flowering Plants' be sent to him: he will mention it in his 'Journal of Botany' for June.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir William [Turner Thiselton-Dyer].

Author: 
Sir John Bretland Farmer
Publication details: 
5 December [1904]; on letterhead Claremont House, Wimbledon Common.
£25.00

Botanist and mountaineer (1865-1944). 1 page, 16mo. Grubby and discoloured, with crease in top right-hand corner, and remains of stub adhering to otherwise-blank reverse. The recipient, Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer (1843-1928; DNB), was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, 1885-1905, and the letter is stamped 'ROYAL GARDENS | KEW | 6 - DEC. 1904'. Letter reads: 'The Dinner is now definitely fixed for 7.30 at the Monico. It is with very great pleasure that we look forward to welcoming you.' Signed 'J. B. Farmer'.

Autograph letter, third person, to the President of the Royal Society.

Author: 
Lord John Russell.
Publication details: 
H[ome] O[ffice], 14 May 1839.
£75.00

Prime Minister 1846-1852 and 1865-1866 (1792-1878). Two pages, 8vo, good condition. He "requests the President of the Royal Society to obtain the opinion of some of the members of the Society conversant with the Science of Botany, whether it may be advisable, with a View to extend the knowledge of Botany, that a Charter of Incorporation should be granted to the Royal Botanical Society (Regents Park.

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