To J. D. Hooker   16 [November 1863]

Down

16th

My dear H.

My Father had some small vases, black & brown, given him by Jos. Wedgwood, & which my Father valued much.1 I, of course, do not know whether they are really good; but I have begged one from my sister Susan2 & she will send it in about a week’s time to Kew.3— I shall be so pleased, if it turns out good; but that must be a mere chance.—

Ever my dear H. | C. D.

I have now been six days with no vomiting!!! & my head feels more solid.—

I see you have been at alpine W. African Plants4

Endorsement: ‘/Novr. 63’

1
CD refers to Robert Waring Darwin, and to either Josiah Wedgwood I, master-potter and founder of Wedgwood & Sons, or his son, Josiah Wedgwood II.
2
Susan Elizabeth Darwin lived at The Mount, Shrewsbury, the family home.
3
Hooker, assistant director at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was an avid collector of Wedgwood ware (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [1 or 3 November 1863] and nn. 18 and 19).
4
CD probably refers to the report of J. D. Hooker 1863b in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, 14 November 1863, pp. 1085–6, which was read to the Linnean Society on 5 November 1863. CD’s annotated copies of the Gardeners’ Chronicle are in the Cory Library, Cambridge Botanic Garden.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 small] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4342,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4342