GARDENS

[Darwin's closest friend: Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, botanist and explorer, Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to Thomas Lister, regarding seeds and an account of 'negro' handling of poisons.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), botanist and explorer, Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and Charles Darwin's closest friend [Thomas Villiers (1832-1902) of the Foreign Office]
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Publication details: 
ONE: 6 June 1877. TWO: 14 November 1878. Both with embossed letterhead of the Royal Gardens, Kew.
£450.00
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient was the son of the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842) and his wife, born Lady Maria Theresa Villiers (1803-1865), and later Lady Theresa Lewis, wife of the Liberal politician Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863). Thomas Lister became an assistant under-secretary for foreign affairs in 1873 and was made a KCMG in 1885. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Both addressed to ‘Dear Mr Lister’ and signed ‘Jos. D. Hooker’. Written in an oddly difficult hand. ONE (6 June 1877): 2pp, 16mo.

[Sir William Jackson Hooker, biologist, first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.] Autograph Signature in valediction to letter.

Author: 
Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865), biologist and botanical illustrator, first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
Sir William Jackson Hooker
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£35.00
Sir William Jackson Hooker

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 9.5 x 3 cm slip of paper, cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Your affectionate / friend / W. J. Hooker'. Fragment of text on reverse: '[...] there is any foundat[...] / for the above repor[...] / or not. If there [...]'.

[Wisley Opening; Royal Horticultural Society; Printed] Invitation Ticket of Sir William Thistelton-Dyer to the Opening of the Laboratory and Experiment & Research Station at Wisley.

Author: 
[Wisley Opening; Royal Horticultural Society]
Wisley
Publication details: 
19 July 1907
£180.00
Wisley

Ticket, 18 x 13cm, very good condition, remnants of laying down on reverse, commencing The President and Council of the Royal Horticultural Society request the pleasure [...] See Image. Sir William Thiselton-Dyer was a leading British botanist, and the third director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

[Charles Vandeleur Creagh, Governor of North Borneo and botanist.] Autograph Note Signed, requesting a price list for ‘Teacher’s Patent Lantern Microscope’ from Manchester maker of optical instruments W. J. Chadwick.

Author: 
Charles Vandeleur Creagh (1842-1917), Governor of North Borneo and botanist who donated his collection of Borneo plants to Kew Gardens, London [W. J. Chadwick, Manchester maker of optical instruments]
Publication details: 
25 December 1890; on letterhead of Government House, Sandakan [North Borneo].
£80.00

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. In order to mark the request as dealt with, the recipient has written a thin ink line across the page. Reads: ‘W J Chadwick Esqre / Sir / Please send me price list of your Teacher’s Patent Lantern Microscope / Yours truly / C. V. Creagh / Governor of North Borneo / Address / Sandakan / North Borneo / via Singapore’.

[Edward Balfour, surgeon, pioneer environmentalist; India] Autograph Letter Signed Edward Balfour to My dear Pritchard, discussing the career in India of Mackeson, including action during the Mutiny.

Author: 
Edward Balfour [Edward Green Balfour (1813 – 1889) Scottish surgeon, orientalist and pioneering environmentalist in India.]
Publication details: 
[Embossed] 107 Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park, 4 April 1889.
£250.00

One page, 12mo, fold mark, good condition. Text: Mackeson was a Bengal Army Officer. He was early employed on the N.W. Frontier of India, in the Peshawar District. When the Mutiny broke out he moved upon Lahore, & didi effective work against the mutinour Sepoy Reg[imen]ts & afterwards joined the army before Delhi with the rank of Brigadier General [&?} Major General. He fell at Delhi. I will; get more information.

[Balfour Stewart,physicist] Autograph Note Signed Balfour Stewart to Sir Richard Temple, administrator in British India and a politician, enclosing one of his books.

Author: 
Balfour Stewart (1828 – 1887), Scottish physicist and meteorologist.
Publication details: 
The Rowans, Parsonage Road, Withington, Manchester, 11 Sept. 1882.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo, black-bordered, strip of tape indicating that it had been tipped onto (album?) page, not affecting text which is clear. Text: Allow me to send you a copy of Paradoxical Philosophy which is a sort of sequel to the Unseen Universe and which I think you told me you had not read. | I trust you may enjoy your trip to Canada.

[Sir Everard Home, Serjeant Surgeon to King George III.] Autograph Letter in the third person to 'Messrs. Laddiges', i.e. firm of George Laddiges, Hackney nurseryman, regarding bananas cultivated to 'perfection', with reference to 'Mr Eyton' and Kew.

Author: 
Sir Everard Home, 1st Baronet (1756-1832), Serjeant Surgeon to King George III, brother-in-law and pupil at St George's Hospital of John Hunter (1728-1793) [George Laddiges, Hackney nurseryman]
Publication details: 
Sackville St [London]; 30 October 1826.
£200.00

An interesting letter regarding the early cultivation of bananas in London. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight nicking to one edge. Neatly written over nine lines. Reads: 'Sir Everard Home is much obliged to Messrs. Laddiges for a present of some very fine Bananas, which were quite ripe, and had a flavour Sir Everard had no idea that they ever could acquire in this Climate. He mentioned yesterday to Mr Eyton with astonishment who said they had fruited at Kew, but not He believed to such perfection'.

[ Sir William Boxall RA, Director of the National Gallery. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('W Boxall'), regarding painting a portrait of the wife of either Sir W. J. Hooker or his son Sir J. D. Hooker, successively Directors, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.

Author: 
Sir William Boxall RA (1800-1879), English artist and Director of the National Gallery, London [ Sir William Jackson Hooker and Sir Joseph Hooker, Directors of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew ]
Publication details: 
14 Welbeck Street [ London ]. 'Monday' [no date].
£65.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with some damage ay foot of reverse of second leaf (not affecting signature) caused by removal from mount. The letter presumably dates from before Boxall's appointment as Director of the National Gallery in 1866, when he all but gave up painting. It is addressed to 'Dr. Hooker', and the recipient is either Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) or his son Sir Joseph Hooker (1817-1911), successively Directors of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.

[ William Sowerby, artist and botanist. ] Autograph Signature ('Wm. Sowerby | Secty') as Secretary, Royal Botanic Society of London, on communication to 'The Proprietors of "Scientific Roll"'.

Author: 
William Sowerby (1827-1906), Secretary, Royal Botanic Society of London, artist and botanist [ [ Alexander Ramsay, editor of the 'Scientific Roll' ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Botanic Society of London, Gardens, Regent's Park, London. 24 January 1883.
£120.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. A somewhat grand and expansive printed form, completed in manuscript by Sowerby. He thanks the 'Gentlemen' who are 'The Proprietors of "Scientific Roll"' for 'the continuation, as published, of The "Scientific Roll"'. From the papers of Alexander Ramsay, editor of the 'Scientific Roll'.

[ Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ] Autograph Note Signed ('W. T. Thiselton Dyer') informing an unnamed party where to get information regarding 'the Establishment' from.

Author: 
Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [ Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer ] (1843-1928), British botanist, third director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Publication details: 
Kew, on embossed letterhead of 'Royal Gardens Kew'). 2 January 1886.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He refers him to 'the Post Office Directory' for a 'list of our scientific staff', and to 'the Official Guide which is on sale at all the Gates' for 'the principal facts as to the objects etc. of the Establishment', and concludes: 'The other information you ask for is embodied in our annual report which is not at present issued'.

[ Sir George King, Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('G King'), regarding 'Mrs Parker's death'.

Author: 
Sir George King (1840-1909), botanist, Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, and first Director of the Botanical Survey of India
Publication details: 
13 Kew Gardens Road [ London ]. 'Sunday' [ no date ].
£35.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Written in a hurried, difficult hand. The recipient's name is indecipherable. King is returning a letter from the recipient's son, and is sorry to hear of 'Mrs Parker's death': 'It is very sad indeed as she was hoping to come to England after a very long absence'.

[ Sir George Nugent, Field Marshal and Governor of Jamaica. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('G. Nugent'), congratulating the botanist Nathaniel Wallich on gaining financial independence through the post of Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta

Author: 
Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet (1757-1849), Field Marshal in the British Army and Governor of Jamaica [ Nathaniel Wallich [ born Nathanael Wulff Wallich ] (1785–1854), botanist of Danish extraction ]
Publication details: 
Westhorpe [ Westhorpe House, Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire ]. 23 June 1848.
£200.00

3pp., 16mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, worn and creased. See both men's entries in the Oxford DNB.

[ Red Cross Gardens, Southwark, London. ] Draft manuscript indenture assignment signed by the Earl of Ducie, Lancelot William Bennett, Charles Stewart Loch, Mary Lumsden, Helen Ironside, Janet Johnson, Thomas Slingsby Tanner, Cecil Antony Nussey.

Author: 
[ Red Cross Garden recreation ground, Southwark, London ] Henry John Reynolds-Moreton (1827-1921), 3rd Earl of Ducie; Charles Stewart Loch (1849-1923), charity commissioner [ Octavia Hill (1838-1912)]
Publication details: 
[ Red Cross Garden, Southwark, London. ] Dated 15 August 1914.
£240.00

On three sides of a vellum bifolium supplied by the London law stationers Witherby & Co. Dimensions of leaf 39 x 26 cm. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. The document is a draft, with several emendations in pencil, including a lengthy addition in the margin of first page, and a shorter one on the second page. Laid out in customary style, within red rules. Docketed on fourth side: 'Dated 15th August 1914 | The Earl of Ducie and Others | to | The Earl of Ducie and Others | Red Cross Garden | Assignment'. With stamp of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, signed by Hugh de Bock Porter.

[ 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.'

[Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, first Baron Redesdale.] Autograph humourous 'verses on the Battle of the Sunflower on "The Batsford Nondescript"', in the form of a dialogue between botanists A. H. Wolley-Dod and Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer.

Author: 
Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, first Baron Redesdale (1837-1916), diplomatist and author, grandfather of the celebrated Mitford sisters [Anthony Hurt Wolley-Dod; Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Batsford Park, Moreton-in-Marsh. Dated in another hand 28 September 1896.
£180.00

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).

Book and pamphlets by or about C.B. Clarke with autograph material, usually economic studies.

Author: 
[Charles Baron Clarke] C.B. Clarke, eminent botanist, former Inspector of Schools in Bengal.
Publication details: 
1881-1906
£250.00

PRINTED: a. Clarke, "On Right-hand and Left-hand Contortion", [offprint], Extracted from the Linnean Society's Journal - Botany, vol.xviii, pp.468-473, wrapsb. Clarke, "Botanic Notes from Darjeeling to Tonglo and Sundukphoo", The Journal of the Linnean Society, xxi, no. 136 (April 14 1885), pp. 384-391, content deriving from a visit in 1884 which covered ground also covered in 1876 (as Diary above).c. [Offprint] "Charles Baron Clarke", From The Journal of Botany, Nov. 1906, pp.[370-377], printed wraps, obituary by D. Prain with an additional biographical note by W.H. Bliss.d.

Post Office Telegraph to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer.

Author: 
Leopold Rothschild
Publication details: 
Handed in at Mayfair'; 3 June 1904.
£20.00

From the third son (1845-1917) of Baron Lionel de Rothschild to the noted botanist (1843-1928), Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (1885-1905). Stamped, printed Post Office telegraph on discoloured high-acidity paper, roughly twenty-centimeters by thirteen centimeters. Mounted on larger piece of better-quality paper, also discoloured with age. Reads 'TO { Thiselton Dyer | Kew Gardens | Very many thanks Kind congratulations | Leopold Rothschild'. The reason for congratulations is unclear.

Six documents including Signed Articles of Agreement for Johnson ('of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew') to perform Government 'service as Gardener in India'; with two testimonials and letters from Mary, Countess of Minto, and Cecil Allanson.

Author: 
John Thomas Johnson, Assistant Curator of the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta, India [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Mary, Countess of Minto]
Publication details: 
1904-1935.
£250.00

The collection in good condition, with all but one of the six items carrying ring-binder punch holes. Item One, Articles of Agreement: Foolscap bifolium, 3 pp. Dated 16 September 1904. Printed seventeen-point agreement in the form of a manuscript facsimile. Signed by Johnson, Sir John Edge and Sir Stewart Colvin Bayley, and witnessed by 'W. Watson | R[oyal]. G[ardens] Kew' and 'Frank R. Marten | India Office'. Items Two and Three both with mourning border on letterhead of Minto House, Hawick. Item Two, Mary Countess of Minto ('M Minto') to Johnson. 4to: 1 p. 14 September 1914.

Typed Letter Signed ('Juliette') to 'Dick' [Frank Richard Cowell, b.1897], together with carbon of typed reply.

Author: 
Juliette Huxley [Lady Marie Juliette Baillot] (1896-1994), wife of the English scientist Julian Huxley (1887-1975) [Frank Richard Cowell]
Publication details: 
Letter, 27 January 1966; on letterhead 31, Pond Street, Hampstead, N.W.3. Reply, 29 January 1966.
£125.00

Juliette Huxley's letter is 4to: 2 pp. Good, though lightly creased and attached to the other items by a paperclip. The correspondence mainly concerns a book by Cowell's eventually published under the title 'The garden as a fine art: from antiquity to modern times' (1978). She begins by describing Mary Wellesley: 'quite a character [...] lives in a small house off St. James's Palace, and entertains by candlelight.

Fragment of Autograph Letter Signed.

Author: 
General Reibell [French soldier]
Publication details: 
12/09/56
£38.00

On piece of grey paper roughly 10.5 x 13.5 cms. Creased and with some evidence of previous mounting on reverse. Docketed 'From general Reibell commanding in the Haut Rhein - who cut his way into the Tuilleries, & saved Louis Philippe & his Queen; commanded the Cavalry in Paris afterwards, on the jour des revoltees [sic] Etc. -.' Reads 'Je ne regarde pas la partie comme perdue, tout faut, nous causerons de ce qu'ils faudras faire | Tout a vous | G[ener]ale Reibell'.

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.

Autograph Letter to George Hammond of Spring Gardens.

Author: 
Robert Plumer Ward
Publication details: 
Abingdon St. Monday.' [no date, but before 1827].
£56.00

English novelist and politician (1765-1846). The recipient (1763-1853) was a diplomat, and joint-editor of the 'Anti-Jacobin'. Three pages, 12mo. On discoloured, lightly-stained paper, with one corner of second leaf of bifoliate (with two words of text) broken off in breaking open letter, and still adhering to wafer. Had Hammond given 'a days notice' of his 'intention to come up', he might have been spared 'some hours of unnecessary Solitude'.

A garland of new songs by L. F.

Author: 
[CLAUD LOVAT FRASER; RALPH HODGSON; HOLBROOK JACKSON; AT THE SIGN OF FLYING FAME]
Publication details: 
PRINTED BY A. T. STEVENS, OF 55 ST. MARTIN'S LANE | IN THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER, FOR FLYING FAME, | 45 ROLAND GARDENS, LONDON, S.W., WHERE | COPIES MAY BE HAD FROM THE | SECRETARY. | [short rule] | 1913.'
£56.00

Eight pages, 12mo. Unbound and unstitched. Unfolds into a single leaf. Paper watermarked 'OAKWOOD | FINE VELLUM'. Five different illustrations (one of which is duplicated). Grubby, spotted and with small closed tears and fraying along one edge (not affecting text or illustrations). 'PRICE FOURPENCE PLAIN; SIXPENCE COLOURED.' This copy is uncoloured.

A garland of portraitures.

Author: 
[CLAUD LOVAT FRASER; RALPH HODGSON; HOLBROOK JACKSON; AT THE SIGN OF FLYING FAME]
Publication details: 
PRINTED BY A. T. STEVENS, OF 55 ST. MARTIN'S LANE | IN THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER, FOR FLYING FAME, | 45 ROLAND GARDENS, LONDON, S.W., WHERE | COPIES MAY BE HAD FROM THE | SECRETARY. | [short rule] | 1913.'
£56.00

Eight pages, 12mo. Unbound and unstitched. Unfolds into a single leaf. Paper watermarked 'OAKWOOD | FINE VELLUM'. Three illustrations. Good, but paper slightly discoloured and with some spotting. 'PRICE 2 PENCE PLAIN, 4 PENCE COLOURED.' This copy is uncoloured.

Illustrated handbill for two of his publications.

Author: 
[CLAUD LOVAT FRASER]
Publication details: 
Without date or place [1916].
£85.00

Printed on unwatermarked tissue paper. Dimensions of paper roughly seven and a half centimeters by eleven and a half. A very good copy of a frail and ephemeral item. An attractive illustration by Fraser of an ivy-clad wall memorial topped by a cherub encloses the following 'There are Published | I. Farewell to the Faeries, by Richard Corbett. | II. Three Poems, by Kenneth Hare. | Decorated and Published by C. Lovat Fraser, and can be obtained from Everard Meynell, 46 Museum Street, W.C. | [short rule] | Price SIXPENCE each, net.'

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 [R. N. Freakes].

Author: 
David Seth-Smith
Publication details: 
10 March 1934, on embossed letterhead 'CURATORS HOUSE | ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, N.W.8.'
£35.00

Presenter of 1930's show on BBC radio, 'The Zoo Man'. 1 page, 12mo. Folded twice. In good condition. 'All you can do for your parrot is to paint the jaws with iodine, but I am afraid the trouble may be with the kidneys & in that case you cannot do much. | Give quite simple food, nothing fattening | Yours truly, | D. Seth-Smith "The Zoo Man". Seth-Smith's book 'The Zoo Man Speaking' was published by Thomas Nelson in 1937. In grubby stamped envelope addressed in autograph to Freakes.

Autograph Letter Signed to [?] Mellersh.

Author: 
W. T. Thiselton-Dyer
Publication details: 
The Ferns, Witcombe, Gloucester, 8 August 1928.
£45.00

English professor of botany, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (DNB). One page, 8vo, creased, slightly discoloured and with a few closed tears. 'I failed, as I think I told you, to get any light on the Chancellors Eulogium from Oxford! I thought it only fair to send to Sir Herbert Warren, the President, Magdalen, what Cheltenham yielded as solicitor. | You may like to see the enclosed as an interesting aspect of Curzons many-sidedness. | I should like to have it again. | I am writing this with some difficulty as the house is full of work people'.

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