[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 [...].

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. The full subtitle reads: '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, and other distant parts Abroad, for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.' The document begins: 'IN obedience to the commands of Lord Liverpool, communicated to me by you, I beg leave to state to you, for his Lordship's information, such remarks as occur to me on the subject of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, [...] The only Botanic Garden that has hitherto held any competition with the Royal Gardens [sic] at Kew is that of the Emperor at the imperial palace at Schonbrun, near Vienna. This collection of plants was raised at an expense more suited to the pleasures of an emperor than to the sober expenditure of public money'. He continues by describing what the 'plan of collecting at Kew' has been, the 'establishment of a Kew collector', changed circumstances due to increase in the value of money, the 'plan of economy' and other many matters. At end: 'Whitehall Treasury Chambers, | 2d April 1821. | S. R. LUSHINGTON.' Scarce: discounting electronic reproductions, no copy on COPAC, and the only copy on OCLC WorldCat at the State Library of New South Wales.