12/7/77
I was pleasingly surprised, dear Sir George, to receive so kind and encouraging a letter from you,1 with such glorious words on my poor “select plants”.2 To see so much praise bestowed on this little book by so learned and enlightened a man as yourself, is a great triumph to me indeed. Had the Department, from which this work emanated, not been broke up, the pages of this unpretensive book might have advanced much farther during the last four years. As it is, it embraces researches of mine during my 17 years of Directorship, and these researches will with fair means perhaps be resumed, as my Department is under the process of reconstruction.3
Perhaps it may be fairly claimed, that no work similar in brevity and completeness (up to recent time exists in the literature of any country or any nation; and if providence spares me strength and health, I intend to write a collateral volume for intra-tropic countries,4 which would bring in the two volumes all utilitarian plants of importance from any part of the globe together.
I have had some correspondence with the Chief Secretarys Office at Wellington concerning the reissue of the work in New Zealand, and was willing to concede the rights of doing so without remuneration. The offer was accepted, but it seems, that as yet no action in this matter has been taken, on account of the pressure of work on the Gov. Printers Department in Wellington5
The best plan would be, to provide on the estimates there £200 or £300 specially, for the reprint of 2000 copies, and it would be a wise act, to distribute the copies gratuitously throughout your colony. For a a6 comparatively small sum, thus an immensity of good might be done permanently.
Since the publication here, I have added about 75 species of plants of more or less importance, besides notes to those in the volume. I have prepared also a systematic index, which in a very instructive way classes the plants scientifically, and also an index of latin synonymes (such as occur in the work) is ready. This would enlarge the volume from to 300 to about 350 pages.
If your Government still likes to reproduce the work I would send at once an interpaged copy, in which all the additions at the proper place are legibly written, and Dr Hector might put his name on the title page as editor of the New Zealand edition, and I would like to dedicate the edition to the Marquis of Normanby7 and yourself.
The title might be changed from Victorian to “extra tropical” culture and the edition be called the “enlarged New Zealand edition”
When enjoying the hospitality of Count de Zaba8 here, I met your friends, Mrs Keesing and her charming young daughters.9 Regardfully, dear Sir George, yours
Ferd von Mueller
Letter not found.
B76.12.04.
A Parliamentary Board of Inquiry had just reported on ways to improve the facilities available to M; see L. Smith to G. Berry, 11 July 1877 (in this edition as M77-07-11).
No such work was published.
See also M to G. Grey, 31 December 1879; M to J. Hector, 10 August 1874; G. Cooper to M, 6 October 1874 (in this edition as 74-10-06b); M to G. Cooper, 3 November 1874.
a repeated at beginning of line.
Governor of NZ at the time.
Count and Miss de Zaba arrived in Sydney from San Francisco on Zeelandia on 19 June 1876. He gave a lecture on his mnemonics system at the Melbourne Atheneum on 14 October 1876 (Argus, 16 October 1876, p. 7), and one on 'the history and literature of Poland' on 2 November 1876 (Argus, 2 November 1876, p. 7. De Zaba gave similar lectures in New Zealand (e.g., Evening post (Wellington), 9 March 1878, p. 2).
Probably part of the family of the NZ businessman Henry Keesing (1791-1879).
A copy of M’s visiting card is attached (GL M50(13) att.).
Please cite as “FVM-77-07-12,” 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