From Frederick Bailey   18 July 1892

Colonial Botanists office1

July 18th [189]2

Dear Baron

I have received a letter this morning from my correspondent at Lund, Professor Otto Nordstedt the learned writer upon Characeae & allied plants. In which he wishes me to state to you the exact words used in his letter of 8.10.91 re his Australian Characeae2 they were — "Parts of the Australasian Characeae will soon be published (the 11 plates are printed) and as Baron F. v. Mueller will get 100 copies (per [...] from the Phytologic Museum at Melbourne) I suppose he will send you a copy of it."3

It would seem from this request that you have objected to the wording in my reference to you about receiving a copy. If the wording was not quite to your taste I think it would have been better that you should have addressed me on the subject — & if in fault — & if at fault I would at once apologised but really the few shillings cost of the pamphlet I should much rather have paid. I have have4 every bother of this kind. I am on good friendly terms with my many foreign correspondents and never ask for a present of their works but perhaps when such can be afforded. I regret that this misunderstanding has occurred.

Yours very truly

F. M. Bailey

 

Characeae

 
Brisbane, Qld.
Nordstedt (1891)

See M to O. Nordstedt, 14 April 1892. O. Norstedt to F. Bailey, 8 October 1891 included the sentence slightly misquoted here by Bailey:

Pars I of the Australasian Characeae will soon be published (the 10 plates are printed) and as Baron F. v. Mueller will get 100 copies (for [subsidia] from the Phytologic Museum at Melbourne) I suppose he will send you a copy of it

Apparently in response to M's April letter, Norstedt again wrote to Bailey on 1 June 1882:

From a letter of Baron F. v. Mueller I find you have been misunderstanding me letter. I suppos I wrote: "Probably you will get it (Austral. Characeae) from Baron v. Müller." But that was only a supposition. I supposed that he would send specimens of it to several public museums & department and also to your department.

If I had written so […], I beg your to tell Baron Müller the words exactly (on this matter) in my letter to you.

Both letters are in B202 F. M. Bailey inward correspondence, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.)

Word repeated.

Please cite as “FVM-92-07-18,” 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 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/92-07-18