To Redmond Barry   17 April 1880

Arnold-Street,

South-Yarra,1

17/4/80

 

It gives me much pleasure, dear Sir Redmond, to present to the grand public Library, which you mainly created, the magnificent work on Brazilian Aroideae, presented to myself by the grace of the Emperor of Austria.2 To this princely gift attaches a particularly deep and sad interest, as it [is]3 one of the many precious literary bequests of a Sovereign, celebrated for his patronage and cultivation of science.

Altho' I value this imperial gift most highly, I deem it best, that this splendid work should find a place in the great public Library here, in order that it may be accessible in all futurity to the generality of of4 the colonists, and thus also the munificence of the imperial donor become appreciated also here in the widest circles. I may be allowed to add, though in all due modesty, that I was one of those, to whom Dr H. Schott of Vienne, the principal author also of this new work, has dedicated in 1860 his celebrated prodromus systematis Aroidearum,5 on which he had worked for 40 years.

Let me remain

dear Sir Redmond

regardfully your

Ferd von Mueller

 

His Honor Sir Redm. Barry K.C.M.G., L.L.D.

President of the trustrees of the public Library

 

Aroideae

1
Melbourne.
2
Peyritsch (1879). See M to W. Odgers, 17 April 1880. The copy that M presented remains at the State Library of Victoria (*SEF 584.64 P46). There are two inscriptions in different hands, neither of them M's: 'Presented by Baron Ferd. von Mueller April 19th 1880' and 'Entd. Stock Book p. 265 | May 1880'. See also Struve (2010).
3
word omitted.
4
of repeated.
5
Schott (1860). As M indicates, he is listed among the 24 botanists to whom Schott dedicated this work. His copy of the book, inscribed 'Clariss. Ferd. Mueller Auctor' [The Author to the illustrious Ferd. Mueller], is in the library at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

Please cite as “FVM-80-04-17b,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/80-04-17b