BOTANY

On an irregular slip of paper, laid down on a landscape 12mo leaf. In very good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Beneath Schouw's signature, in an early nineteenth-century hand: 'Joachim Frédéric Schouw, célèbre botaniste, président de la chambre des députés, né 1789.' To the right of the signature and inscription is a simple line portrait of Schouw's head and shoulders, in the same hand as the French inscription.

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.'

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.

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.

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. He writes that he has received the collection of specimens safely, and that there are several that are new to him. He would like to make a selection, but pressure of work makes that impossible, so he is taking the lot at £8 18s 0d. He concludes by expressing pleasure at the news that 'Monsieur Dale' still enjoys good health.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with thin strip from stub adhering to edge of second leaf. The page is headed 'Private & Confidential', and the poem is preceded by the following note: 'I must send you the verses on the Battle of the Sunflower on "The Batsford Nondescript". A twenty-four line poem, in six four-line stanzas, on the theme of a disagreement over the naming of a specimen, between the botanist Anthony Hurt Wolley-Dod (1861-1948) and the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (1843-1928).

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'.

[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.

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.

The signature, reading 'Jos. D. Hooker', followed by (printed) "Director" is on a piece of paper roughly 3 x 10 cm., stiff paper (suggesting from a displayed notice, pin-holes on both lateral edges, not affecting text. On the verso there are a few lines of printed text, some affected by cut but thisparagraph surviving: It is particularly desired that Visitors will abstain from handling speciments with ut permission from the person in charge of them

One page, 12mo, creased, but text clear and complete: "Dr. Gray accepts with pleasure Prof. Washburn's invitation for tomorrow evening."

With two supplements (1912 & 1924), Ist suplement sl. sunned, in the main condition very good. 3 items

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'.

One page, 12mo, good condition. He acknowledges receipt of a letter from Crow [identified through this letter being with a batch of letters addressed to him] "et des deux publications que vous avez bien voulu m'envoyer et qui sont intéressantes pour moi. | Je vous ai envoyé hier le 2me Memoire sur le Volvox | Vous recevez prochainement le 3me Mémoire qui traite de l'outogénèse de la blastea volvocéenne."

3pp., folio, paginated to 3. Bifolium. Disbound. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper; folded twice into the customary packet, with the title printed lengthwise as usual.

On strip cut from letter. Dimensions: In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Reads 'have complied with my suggestion | Yours Trly | [signed] John Lindley'. The signature has been cut close, and the downward loop of the final letter of the signature is lacking.

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'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with minor traces of glue from mount still adhering. Numbered at head in manuscript. The message reads: 'Mr. Charles C. Babington presents his compliments to Miss Barnard and begs to thank her for the very full list of plants found near Royston which she has so kindly sent to him through the hands of Mr. Fordham.'

3 pp, 4to. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of stub adhering to the blank reverse of second leaf. The year 1832 has been added in pencil in a contemporary hand. The letter is on paper watermarked 1831. Docketed at head 'Braybrooke Ld.' He begins by informing Henslow that Lord Grenville has lent him 'the Book in which his Notes upon the growth of Trees, during many years, had been made. He assures me that nothing worth your notice will be found among the MS remarks, but I am not of that opinion.

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'.

2pp., 4to. On a bifolium, with the main text on the recto of the first page, and the postscript with the address on the verso of the second. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Tipped-in onto leaf removed from an autograph album. The book he enquired after on the previous day was 'any spanish work translated into french or English Interlineally for a beginner in that language'. He has seen German and Italian books 'so translated', and will be grateful if Jones can suggest a Spanish one.

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.

With Papers by R.A. Blakelock, Robert H. Kanazawa, Arthur Loveridge, A.L. Rand and Staff of British Museum (Natural History). [22; 24; 6 inc. blanks and outside pages], 4to, unbound, stapled, p.12 inserted upsidedown, outside pages grubby, good condition. Four copies listed on COPAC (BL, Natural History Museum, SOAS, Oxford; four also listed on WorldCat (Harvard, Paris, Geneva, Basel).

Four pages, 12mo, Hanbury asks some questions about a 'catalogue' [presumably of plants found in Kent] Shepherd has sent him. "With these few exceptions your capital list is perfectly plain & straightforward". He has questions about Trollius europoeus, Wrotham Waters, Hypericum Montanum ('a mistake here'), Geranium sylvaticum ('Are you quite clear about this? Watson's Topog. Bot. does not give it as Kentish at all'). He corrects him on a geranium he has shown him ('rare or rarer'), believes a mistake has been made placing Lathymus palustris in Ryash Woods ('northern plant').

One page, 8vo, trimmed with no obvious loss, small closed tears and fold marks, text clear and complete. He congratulates Clarke on his work "Commelynaceae et Cyrtandraceae Bengalenses" published in 1874, with fulsome compliments. My Latin doesn't help me translate all of the second half of the letter but it includes a reference to the Rev. M.J. Berkeley, perhaps a reference to Clarke's use of his work. He also refers to his own new work "Hymenomycetes" [presumably the 1874 edition of "Hymenomycetes Europaei sive epicriseos systematis Mycologici".

Two pages, 4to, several closed tears, two small hole, one stain, 1in. dia., on p.2. , text clear and complete. "I am much obliged to you for sending me a copy of your 'Proteus' No.6 - the Goethe Commemoration Number. It was a happy idea to concentrate on this centenary. My interest naturally centres on the 'Metamorphosis of Plants'. Had Goethe lived as a post Darwinian his keen insight would have led him to a rather different statement of his great synthesis. He would have accepted I am pretty sure a theory of segregation rather than a theory of metamorphosis.

Two pages, 4to, fold marks, four small closed tears. A difficult hand. He thanks Crow for his book, "Contributions to the Principles of Morphology", just published, suggesting that Crow must have enjoyed reviewing "older views", adding, "The Philosophy on which Biology has [?] based is much neglected ...I never came across any Botanist for example who thought the two [?] of Goethe, & his theory of meta-morphosis has been a great curse ... for 100 years. The mistake of [?] was, that we had no 'definitions' of a leaf to begin with. ...

Three pages, 12mo, minor defects, text clear and complete. I fear I quite forgot to send you the names of the books on 'fungi', and now I have not got them with me. But as the messenger is going up to Christiania I am sending you some rather crude pictures, which may be of some use pending the arrival of better books which I shall recommend shortly. | But for heaven's sake be careful! Some are so poisonous that no doctor can be of any use.

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.

On slip of paper, roughly 2.5 x 10 cm, cut from a letter for an autograph hunter. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads 'Yours sincerely | J Arthur Thomson'.