From John Curtis 19 January 1852

My dear Henslow

Not having seen you, except in my Folio, for so long a time, I am glad of an excuse to write, hoping you may favour me with a few lines when you have a little leisure. My object was to ask your opinion, in the absence of Lindley concerning some elementary Botanical Works but by accident I gained the information I required whilst writing the first few lines of this note & curiously enough in a few hours after I received your Circular which I should have noticed earlier but I have been much engaged this Christmas in visiting old friends & making up packets of Insects for foreign acquaintances who were very kind & liberal to me in my wanderings over the Continent last year.

At last I have found a day to overhaul my Boxes & having collected from my Prints above a hundred Zoological & botanical from various Works in which I have been engaged, I will now thank you to inform me where they are to be sent to, so that I may forward them as you may wish. They will make a 4th. parcel. At present I cannot undertake to send you any insects & I expect you have little means of preserving them at the Museum. I sent Ransome a few rare Shells: some Cinders from Vesuvius, & [illeg.] different fossils I had collected in my various Rambles in England, thinking they might be useful.

I spent a few days at Broom House not long since & am happy to learn that Henry Sulivan has at last been presented to a living near Lichfield, where I hope he will enjoy better health & find himself comfortably settled.

I have been much distressed by my excellent friend Bromfield and trust that someone will be willing & able to complete his Flora Vectis, which had cost him so much time & money & would be an honor to his memory.

Tomorrow I dine at the Linnean Club with Spence, but we are so completely "done Brown", that I am almost sick of it. Our meetings are not what they were in "the good old times" nor even when our energetic & excellent Bishop presided.

Believe me

ever yours sincerely

J. Curtis