Regret at Smith's departure. Found a butterfly she thinks the "great tortoiseshell butterfly", will try to send a specimen. Found a curious bright yellow fungus in the stove house, will send specimen with letter.
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The Linnean Society of London Collection
The scientific and personal correspondence of James Edward Smith (1759-1828), purchaser of the collections of Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) and founder of the Linnean Society of London in 1788, was presented to the Linnean Society between 1857 and 1872 by his widow Pleasance Smith (1773-1877). Since then, it has been complemented by additional series. The collection was catalogued, conserved, and digitised from 2010 to 2013, thanks to the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Letters can be searched through Ɛpsilon, with links to images and summaries available on the Linnean Society’s Online Collections (http://linnean-online.org/smith_correspondence.html).
Regret at Smith's departure. Found a butterfly she thinks the "great tortoiseshell butterfly", will try to send a specimen. Found a curious bright yellow fungus in the stove house, will send specimen with letter.
Thanks for Smith's letter and plant. She has been ill with the mumps. Pleased Smith thought the beetle she found in her father's room and sent curious, she does not want it returned and not disappointed it proved common. Sends coloured drawing of a lichen [extant] by Mr Trossavelli after failing to remove it from the stone. Encloses dried specimen of a fern she has found [extant]. Demands that Mr Edwards write and inform them whether he intends to visit.
Specimen of fern, wrapper annotated by Smith "'[Polypodium] cristatum'", and by Johnes, detailing the location it was found.
Note by Thomas Johnes [on separate folio] that he read the letter before it was sent.
Drawing of lichen [Smith has annotated on reverse: "'L. geographicus'"]
Thanks for Smith's letter and his intention to send a box of insects. Sends dried flower of the unknown plant from Constantinople her mother showed Smith in the hothouse [extant]. Dr [James] Anderson is visiting and sends his compliments.
Specimen, wrapped annotated by Johnes.
Received Smith's letter. Weather is cold and stormy. Has sent with her father to London Smith's microscope and a small box of insects. Dr [James] Anderson has found a "very pretty spot" for her flower garden.
Note pasted onto recto of second folio apparently sent separately: also sending with her father the great tortoiseshell butterfly mentioned in earlier letter, a curious beetle, and a "very pretty" insect found in broom tree. Her mother asks Smith to send some of the moss which they make "fireworks of in the playhouse as Sir Joseph Banks says there is some here".
Cold and wet weather has prevented her botanising. Glad Smith safely received microscope and box of insects. Congratulates Smith on his approaching marriage and looks forward to showing his wife [Pleasance Smith] the "romantic beauties of this place". Dr [James] Anderson now well but her father still in London.
Thanks for Smith's letter. Their new gardener from Scotland, Mr Todd, has arrived, he was previously at the Edinburgh Botanical Garden and he knows Smith by name. Dr [James] Anderson is working on her flower garden. Received letter from her aunt, Charlotte, who complains of the heat but is happy and pleased with Mrs Kindersley [probably with Smith's cousins, the Kindersleys, in India]. Her father still in London.