JDH thanks Otto Stapf for providing him with a list of Balsam names from the card catalogue. He will see to the date of Impatiens lasiophyton. JDH currently working on Meebold's collection, the best organised of any Indian collection he has seen. It includes some new species which JDH will describe for the KEW BULLETIN. JDH recommends a book he is by F.B. Bradley-Birt: THROUGH PERSIA FROM THE GULF TO THE CASPIAN. He praises the descriptions in the book, mentioning particularly the accounts of Shiraz, Sadi [Sari?] & Persepolis. He reports that his eczema has subsided & thanks Stapf for visiting & distracting him whilst he was in pain.
Transcript
TELEGRAMS,
WINDLESHAM,
Dec[embe]r 3 1909*1
THE CAMP,
NEAR SUNNINGDALE.
My dear Stapf*2,
A thousand thanks for your [and] Mrs Stapf's kind Xmas greetings which Lady H[yacinth]*3 cordially reciprocates.
It is indeed good of you to get me the alphabetical list of Balsam names from the card Catalogue, it is invaluable. I will see to the date of I[mpatiens]. lasiophyton.
I am all day at work on Meebold's*4 fine collection which contains some new species that I had not seen. I am supplying every species in it with dissections[?] mounted on gummed paper & sketches. His specimens &
TELEGRAMS,
WINDLESHAM,
Dec[embe]r 3 1909*1
THE CAMP,
NEAR SUNNINGDALE.
My dear Stapf*2,
A thousand thanks for your [and] Mrs Stapf's kind Xmas greetings which Lady H[yacinth]*3 cordially reciprocates.
It is indeed good of you to get me the alphabetical list of Balsam names from the card Catalogue, it is invaluable. I will see to the date of I[mpatiens]. lasiophyton.
I am all day at work on Meebold's*4 fine collection which contains some new species that I had not seen. I am supplying every species in it with dissections[?] mounted on gummed paper & sketches. His specimens &
ticketing are a long way the best of any considerable Indian collections. I am describing the new species for the Bulletin & hope to prepare them with a brief note on the whole.
I am reading a delightful book on Persia which I am sure would please you
"Through Persia from the Gulf to the Caspian, by F. B. Bradley--Brirt Birt Birt*5." He is no Naturalist, but for picturesque truthful descriptions of the people their manners & customs their Early history & that of the successive Governments dynasties & above all their great architectural features it would be hard to beat. His account of Shiraz
& of Sadi [Sari?] are to me fascinating. I am now at Persepolis; no previous description that I have read gave me half the information -- & yet he avoids such a train of fine writing or exaggeration. He takes all the horrors of Travel in Persia with perfect good sense & Equanimity.
Thanks for Kind enquiries, the Eczema has greatly subsided -- I was in [word crossed out, illeg.] great pain when you paid us your kind visit which diverted my mind from my trouble.
Most sincerely Y[ou]rs | Jos[eph]. D Hooker[signature]
1. The letter is annotated 'repl[ied] 1/1/10'.
2. Otto Stapf (1857--1933). Austrian botanist and taxonomist, the son of Joseph Stapf, who worked in the Hallstatt salt-mines. He published the archaeological plant remains from the Late Bronze and Iron Age mines that had been uncovered by his father. Stapf moved to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1890. He was keeper of the Herbarium from 1909 to 1920 and became British citizen in 1905. He was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1927. In 1908 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
3. Lady Hyacinth Hooker, née Symonds then Jardine (1842--1921). Joseph Hooker's second wife, they married in 1876 and had two sons.
4. Alfred Karl Meebold (1863--1952). German botanist, plant collector and anthroposophist.
5. Frances Bradley Bradley-Birt (1874--1963). Diplomat and writer.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible.
Powered by Aetopia