To William Thiselton-Dyer   4 July 1893

4/7/93¹

Your letter, received by this weeks mail, dear Dr Dyer,² is almost answered already by some of my last communications. As I said already, Mr Bailey has receded from the position to continue Bentham's Flora Australiensis.³ The Premier of Victoria, not withstanding the retrenchments also in the Governm. Printing Office, has last month sanctioned the printing of the Suppl. vol. in that Institution as a byework. Since no objections are raised by the Bentham-Trustees and Lov. Reeve's firm, the printing can now proceed with the title "Supplement to Bentham's Flora Australiensis.⁴

In justice to myself I should however still like to add, that I have never hindered any one in his work on his own Australian plants. Contrarely I have helped any one as far as I could as regards my time and monetary means. But we Administrators of public Institutions are not private Individuals, and are also bound, to protect the trusts, confided to us. You felt that yourself as regards O. Kuntze; and even Sir Will. Hooker 30 years ago wrote me about prohibitory measures, he had with all his geniality to adopt to prevent encroachments on his fern-work.⁵ Imagine (e.g.) any one of little experience and with scant material suddenly starting in one of the continental Kingdoms with announcing that he had commenced compiling a suppl. to the "Genera plantarum",⁶ without even referring to the surviving author. When the Flora Indica will be finished, it may be also deemed advisable, to defer a supplement, to allow more time for finality. If my own wishes could have prevailed, the ­suppl. to the Flora Austral. would have been a posthumous volume, in order that it might not require soon again to be supplemented. At the sacrifice of domesticity, recreations, private means, I have daily worked since 1864 for such a supplement, and only one party has ever urged it earlier, and that was not from Europe. Though the records of localities in the Flora has become already in msc doubled and tripled, it needs yet to multiplied, as vast tracts of Australia need yet to be trodden botanically, altho' I inspired numerous settlers to collect. Add to this further msc. completions of descriptions &c &c

I was quite astonished now for the first time to learn, that Sir Joseph and yourself had not received in London any copy of the "Handbook of Australian Fungs." It was not brought⁷ in my Department, and I received from the Agricult. Departm here only one copy officially (none privately) and asked only for one more for a daughter of my sister in S.A., where she on my desire collected and painted fungs. I at once wrote to the Secretary of Agriculture here, to recommend the supply of one copy to you and one to Sir Joseph, he (of course) also anticipating not such a short [co]mins⁸ in England.⁹

Always regardfully

your

Ferd. von Mueller

Private printing is very costly here I lost £220 on my translation and enlargement of Wittstein¹⁰

The Gov Printing Office is overwhelmed with strictly official work

Trusting Verticordias arrived safely.¹¹

Verticordia