BOTANY

[ William Lawrence Balls, botanist. ] Ten Typed Letters Signed (all 'W Lawrence Balls') to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts

Author: 
William Lawrence Balls (1882-1960), FRS, botanist who specialised in cotton technology [ the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association, Limited, Manchester; Royal Society of Arts, London ]
Publication details: 
All on letterheads of the Fine Cotton Spinners' & Doublers' Association, Limited, St. James's Square, Manchester. Two from 1917 and eight from 1918.
£100.00

The ten letters total 4pp., landscape 8vo, and 6pp., 4to. The collection in good condition, lightly aged and worn. With stamps and annotations of the Royal Society of Arts. The correspondence relates to a lecture given by him by invitation, and its subsequent publication in the Society's journal. He originally suggests that it be titled 'The Application of Science to economic purposes, with illustrations from the Cotton Trade', thinking that it would 'attract people outside cotton circles', but is persuaded to alter this to 'Examples of Applied Science in the Cotton Industry'.

[ Edward Forbes, Manx naturalist. ] Autograph Note in the third person to 'Mr Bowerbank'.

Author: 
Edward Forbes (1815-1854), Manx naturalist, Professor of Botany at King's College, London
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£40.00

On 3 x 17 cm. slip of paper, cut from longer document. In fair condition, lightly aged and folded. Reads: 'Prof Forbes' compliments to Mr Bowerbank and he cannot they are not ready he will forward them to Mr Ransom himself'.

[ Joakim Frederik Schouw, Danish botanist and politician. ] Autograph Signature, with biographical note in French and crude portrait.

Author: 
Joakim Frederik Schouw (1789-1852), Danish lawyer, botanist and politician
Publication details: 
Without place or date [ early nineteenth-century ].
£56.00

On an irregular slip of paper, laid down on a landscape 12mo leaf. In very good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Beneath Schouw's signature, in an early nineteenth-century hand: 'Joachim Frédéric Schouw, célèbre botaniste, président de la chambre des députés, né 1789.' To the right of the signature and inscription is a simple line portrait of Schouw's head and shoulders, in the same hand as the French inscription.

[ 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.'

[Edmond de Sélys Longchamps, Belgian scientist and politician.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Edm. de Selys Longchamps'), in French, to 'Monsieur Stevens', regarding a collection of specimens he has offered him.

Author: 
Baron Michel Edmond de Sélys Longchamps (1813-1900), Belgian liberal politician and scientist, a great authority on dragonflies
Publication details: 
Liege. 26 March 1866.
£140.00

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.

[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).

[Rev. Dr Theophilus Houlbrooke, botanist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Theophilus Houlbrooke') resigning from the committee of the Liverpool Botanic Garden.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Theophilus Houlbrooke, FRS (1745-1824) of Shrewsbury and Barnes, Surrey, botanist
Publication details: 
'Green Bank' [Greenbank, Liverpool], 22 February 1815.
£56.00

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'.

The Florist's Bibliography

Author: 
C. Harman Payne
Publication details: 
London, 1908
£35.00

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

[Charles Janet] Autograph Note Signed 'Ch Janet' to [W.B. Crow, biologist]

Author: 
Charles Janet (849–1932), French engineer, company director, inventor and biologist.
Publication details: 
[Printed headed notepaper] Charles Janet, Ingénieur de Arts et Manufactures, Voisinlieu-les-Beauvais, Par Alonne (Oise), 10 Juillet 1923. En francais.
£135.00

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."

[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.

Autograph Signature of the English botanist and horticulturist John Lindley.

Author: 
John Lindley (1799-1865), English botanist and horticulturist, Professor of Botany, University College, London
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£20.00

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H: B: Fielding') from Henry Borron Fielding, inviting the recipient to join the Earl of Burlington, Earl Stanhope and Professor Owen as trustees on presentation of his herbarium and library to London Royal Botanical Society.

Author: 
Henry Borron Fielding (1805-1851), botanist [Fielding Herbarium, University of Oxford; London Royal Botanical Society; Earl of Burlington; Earl Stanhope; Sir Richard Owen; James De Carl Sowerby]
Publication details: 
Bolton Lodge, Lancaster. 6 January 1842.
£180.00

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'.

Autograph Note in the third person from the botanist and archaeologist Charles Cardale Babington, thanking 'Miss Barnard' [Alicia Mildred Barnard] for a list of 'plants found near Royston'.

Author: 
Charles Cardale Babington (1808-1895), botanist and archaeologist [Alicia Mildred Barnard (1825-1911), Norwich botanist; Henry Fordham (1803-1894), botanist]
Publication details: 
St John's College, Cambridge. 25 October 1859.
£45.00

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.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Braybrooke') from Richard Griffin, Baron Braybrooke, politician and editor of Pepys's diary, to Rev. John Stevens Henslow, Cambridge Professor of Botany, discussing Lord Grenville's tree book and Dr Clarke's mulberry tree.

Author: 
Richard Griffin [formerly Neville], 3rd Baron Braybrooke (1783-1858), Whig politician and first editor of Samuel Pepys's diary [Rev. John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), Professor of Botany at Cambridge]
Publication details: 
'A[udley] E[nd]'. 1 January [1832].
£120.00

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. C. Loudon') from the Scottish botanist John Claudius Loudon to the bookseller 'Mr. Jones', of the firm Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, Finsbury Square, London.

Author: 
J. C. Loudon [John Claudius Loudon] (1783-1843), Scottish botanist, garden designer and editor [Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, booksellers, Finsbury Square, London]
Publication details: 
Bayswater House; 28 May 1818.
£280.00

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.

Autograph Manuscript of the American actor and poet John Howard Payne, either an original poem or a translation, entitled 'Ode the Sixteenth. | The Herb Rue'.

Author: 
John Howard Payne (1791-1852), American actor and playwright, best-known for his song 'Home, Sweet Home'
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£165.00

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.

Contributions to the Fauna and Flora of Southwestern Asia

Author: 
R.A. Blakelock and others
Contributions to the Fauna and Flora of Southwestern Asia
Publication details: 
Florida : [... distributed privately by the author], 1955 (COPAC Entry; another adds Coconut Grove))
£225.00
Contributions to the Fauna and Flora of Southwestern Asia

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).

Autograph Letter Signed 'Frederick J. Hanbury", botanist, to [the Rev. C. W ] 'Shepherd', a fellow-botanist, and the inclusion of Shepherd's 'catalogue' ('London Catalogue of British Plants?')

Author: 
Frederick J. Hanbury, botanist [Frederick Janson Hanbury; F.J. Hanbury]
Autograph Letter Signed 'Frederick J. Hanbury", botanist
Publication details: 
[Printed] London, Plough Court, 37 Lombard Street, EC, 16 July 1875.
£225.00
Autograph Letter Signed 'Frederick J. Hanbury", botanist

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').

Autograph Letter Signed "E Fries", in Latin, to C.B. Clarke, botanist and school inspector

Author: 
Elias Magnus Fries, eminent mycologist
Publication details: 
Uppsala 28 Oct. 1875.
£125.00

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".

Keywords:

Autograph Letter Signed "F.O. Bower", botanist, to Dr. W.B. Crow [William Bernard Crow, biologist , etc., Author of 'A History of Magic, Witchcraft and Occultism']

Author: 
F.O. Bower [Frederick Orpen Bower FRS] (1855–1948), British botanist
F.O. Bower [Frederick Orpen Bower FRS] (1855–1948), British botanist
Publication details: 
2 The Crescent, Ripon, Yorks, 15 April 1932.
£125.00
F.O. Bower [Frederick Orpen Bower FRS] (1855–1948), British botanist

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.

Autograph Letter Signed to "Mr Crow" [W.B. Crow, author of "Contributions to the Principles of Morphology "], essentially reviewing Crow's book, but also givinf a Testament..

Author: 
Arthur H. Church, Chemist, Expert on Pottery and Stones
Arthur H. Church, Chemist, Expert on Pottery and Stones
Publication details: 
246 Iffley Road, Oxford, 2 April 1929.
£165.00
Arthur H. Church, Chemist, Expert on Pottery and Stones

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. ...

Autograph Letter Signed B. Gilliat-Smith (diplomat and naturalist) to Lady Findlay, wife of diplomat, Mansfeldt Findlay, about books on fungi.

Author: 
B. Gilliat-Smith, diplomat and naturalist
B. Gilliat-Smith, diplomat and naturalist
Publication details: 
British Consulate, Copenhagen, 17 August 1918.
£38.00
B. Gilliat-Smith, diplomat and naturalist

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Lowell') to Rainford, concerning a consignment of botanical books from England.

Author: 
John Amory Lowell (1798-1881), American businessman and philanthropist [Edward Rainford, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
19 June 1843; Boston.
£195.00

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.

Autograph Signature ('J Arthur Thomson').

Author: 
J. Arthur Thomson [Sir John Arthur Thomson] (1861-1933), Scottish naturalist and author whose writings sought to reconcile science and religion
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£18.00

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'.

No. 20 of the 'Bibliotheca Entomologica'.

Author: 
Felix L. Dames, German natural history publisher and bookseller
Publication details: 
Berlin: Tasuben-Strasse 47. 1892.
£35.00

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

Autograph Letter Signed ('Dr. v Martius'), in English, to 'James Murray jun. Esq.', son of the London bookseller John Murray the second.

Author: 
Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794-1868), German botanist and South American explorer [John Murray II (1778-1843); Rudolph Oldenbourg (1811-1903); Johann Georg Cotta, Baron von Cottendorf]
Publication details: 
Munich 21. April 1841.'
£350.00

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.

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.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Conde de Funchal'), in French, to 'Mr. Falconet, Avocat Celebre a Paris'.

Author: 
Domingo Antonio de Souza-Coutinho, Conde de Funchal (fl 1803-1833), Portuguese diplomat, Ambassador to England, and botanist [Ambroise Falconet? Jacques Récamier?]
Publication details: 
1 March 1816; Florence, Italy. Carrying postmarks and seal in red wax with impression of family crest.
£85.00

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'.

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.

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