KEW

[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 [...]'.

[The Chelsea Physic Garden, London.] Printed invitation ‘at the Opening of the Garden’, and Laboratory andn Lecture Rooms by Earl Cadogan, made out to Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, and his wife.

Author: 
The Chelsea Physic Garden, London [Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (1843-1928), botanist, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]
Chelsea
Publication details: 
At the Opening of the Chelsea Physic Garden, London, 25 July 1902.
£180.00
Chelsea

See Thiselton-Dyer’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Printed on one side of a 10 x 13 cm piece of paper, and made out in manuscript to ‘Sir William Thistleton [sic] Dyer (and Lady)’. Text size in good condition, lightly aged, with the blank reverse of the card with slight damage from mounting. The recipient has written in a close hand in red ink at top left: ‘accepted. / 18. 7. 02.’ The text reads: ‘The Chelsea Physic Garden.

[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’.

[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.

[ 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'.

[ 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).

[Parliamentary paper.] Cape of Good Hope: Botanical Collectors. Extract of a Letter dated 1st September 1814, from Sir Joseph Banks to George Harrison, Esquire, recommending the appointment of two Botanical Collectors at The Cape of Good Hope [...].

Author: 
[Sir Joseph Banks; George Harrison; the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew; the Cape of Good Hope; British Parliamentary paper, 1821; S. R. Lushington; House of Commons]
Publication details: 
'Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 2 April 1821.' [Numbered '374.']
£300.00

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.

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.

Seven Typed Letters Signed (all 'R. W. Dana', and one of the signatures cyclostyled) to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Robert Washington Dana (1868-1956), British naval architect, assistant to Barry on the construction of Tower Bridge, London, and 'Resident Engineer for reconstruction of Kew Bridge'
Publication details: 
1911 (3 letters) and 1913 (4 letters); all on letterhead of the Institution of Naval Architects (of which Dana was the Secretary).
£100.00

Six of the letters are 4to, 1 p; the other is 12mo, 1 p. All good, on lightly aged paper. All bearing the Society's stamp and most docketed. On a variety of subjects: a proposed paper by 'Herr Frahm', the use by the Institution of the Royal Society's library for a council meeting, the delivery to the Society of a 'model tank that is coming from Germany' ('the reader of the paper is sending his representative over from Germany to superintend matters'), and a 'Proposed Memorial to the late Sir William White' ('with reference to Mr. Bailey Saunders and Mr. C. R. Graves.

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.

Printed invitation to the 'opening of the Cosmo Melvill Herbarium'.

Author: 
Sir James Cosmo Melvill [THE MANCHESTER MUSEUM, OWENS COLLEGE]
Publication details: 
31 October 1904; printed by Cuthbertson & Black of Manchester.
£35.00

Melvill was a noted English botanist (1845-1929). 8vo bifoliate. Four unpaginated pages. In very good condition, with some discolouration from age and remains of stub from previous mounting adhering to verso of second leaf. Decorative vignettes on all four sides. Engraving of Museum on recto of first leaf. 'PROGRAMME' (reception; tea and coffee; address by Sir William Turner Thiselton Dyer; inspection) on verso of first leaf. Description of 'AN EXHIBITION | of | A SERIES OF SPECIMENS | from the Herbarium' on both sides of second leaf.

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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