To Joseph Hooker1    20 February 1877

20/2/77.

 

I am eager to ask you, dear Dr Hooker, whether you (as I hope) preserved the few proofsheets of the School-Flora, which I sent you successively several months ago.2 The work has been stopped by the Ministry, chiefly on account of the exorbitant estimate of cost, furnished by the Gov Printer here, the charge made being at least four times larger than need be for the woodcuts! Everything is placed against me, to make my progress impossible. An other objection was, that I used too many scientific words, when after the use of such words as fruitlets, stalklets &c the language was plainer then3 that of even the smallest elementary book in the English Language.4 I have now not even myself a proofsheet of those pages, which were in type! and as the writing, which for the was finished, involved much time & toil, I like to have the whole together again in some form for possible future use.5 Can you kindly therefore return to me any proofsheets, which you may have kept at Kew.

Regardfully

Ferd. von Mueller.

 

Of course I have over the estimates of the Gov Printing Department no control.

The Gov Printer kept no copy.6

 

Thalamiflorae

 
1
MA annotation by Hooker: '2 sheets sent May 3d/77'.
2
Hooker returned the sheets, see J. Hooker to M, 3 May 1877 (in this edition as 77-05-03a).
3
than?
4
See the annotation by the Chief Secretary, James McCulloch, on the proof sheets, dated 22 November 1876: 'As a work for the use of our State School children such a work as this represents would be of little or no value — & from that point of view it is needless to proceed with it' (K76/13910, unit 883, VPRS 3991/P, VA 860 Chief Secretary’s Office, PROV). See Lucas, Maroske & Brown-May (2006).
5
Much of the material was reused in B79.06.04.
6
The Government Printer had also broken up the type, see minute of 28 February 1877 on letter from Acting Under Treasurer to the Secretary, Education Department, 27 December 1876 (77/153, unit 385, VPRS 794 central inwards registered correspondence, VA713 Board of Education; K76/13910, unit 883, VPRS 3991, VA 860 Chief Secretary's Office, PROV).

Please cite as “FVM-77-02-20,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on 20 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/77-02-20