[Lord Morpeth to Sir Joseph Paxton, regarding ‘overflowings’ from the Duke of Devonshire’s garden.] Autograph Letter Signed to gardener and creator of Crystal Palace Sir Joseph Paxton, requesting cuttings on behalf of William Tighe Hamilton of Dublin

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Paxton’ and signed ‘Morpeth’. Much of the letter comprises a twenty-three line quotation from a letter Morpeth has received ‘from a great friend of mine in Dublin, Mr Hamilton’ (After the transcription of Hamilton’s letter Morpeth gives his name as ‘William Tighe Hamilton Esqre [1807-1886] / Donnybrook / Dublin’. In his letter to Morpeth Hamilton boasts that he is ‘a great collector of green-house and stone plants; I have now the largest Houses devoted to flowers in this country except at the Botanic Gardens’. He asks Morpeth if he could put in a word with Paxton regarding the the ‘overflowings’, ‘chips and parings’ of ‘The Duke [of Devonshire]’s collection of Orchidaceous plants’: ‘It is only thus that humble people like myself can collect such plants, and perhaps I might be admitted to a share of the crumbs.’ He ventures to ask this ‘because I am a gardener, and gardeners are licensed beggars’. Morpeth would be pleased if Paxton could oblige Hamilton, but does not mean to ‘ask any-thing that is indiscreet’. He ends: ‘We have very variable weather here.’