BOTANY

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'.

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

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.

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'.

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

4to (leaf dimensions roughly 27 x 21.5 cm): 1 p. Fifteen lines of text. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the address on the reverse of the second leaf. Text complete and legible, on aged paper, grubby, worn and creased paper. An unusual and interesting letter of introduction, pointing out the international links in the European booktrade of the early nineteenth century.

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

Botanist (1865-1938). Both 12mo. Both stamped and addressed in autograph to "F. O. Whitaker Esq. / 45 Elmdene Rd / Plumstead / S. E. 18". The first, with a crease to one corner: "I have just seen Mr Salmon who is anxious to be at the B M. Secl. meeting. Mon Tues or Wed in the next week (Jan 21 22 or 23) would suit both of us. Can you arrange for one of these days?" The second: "I have sent on the letter to Mr Salmon. Please call the meeting for Jan 15 as originally suggested." Both signed "A. B. Rendle". Two items,