Adelaide, 14 March 1876.1
Sir.
I have been requested by Baron Ferdinand von Müller, Government Botanist for the Province of Victoria, and whose Botanical Works connected with Australia are so well known & appreciated over the whole of the globe, to be supported by the Government of South Australia in his attempt to complete his Monography of the genus Eucalyptus. There will be about 130 plates required and the Baron proposes that although he furnishes the drawings, the several Australian Provinces shall provide the funds for the lithographs and the printing of the several species indigenous and of particular interest for each Province. For South Australia, including Northern Territory, the number will be from twenty five to thirty species.
To show how far the issue is advanced already, I beg to annex some copies from plates already completed2 and to say that Western Australia has already consented to the Baron's proposal. The cost of each plate will not exceed £8 (at present it can be done for £4.10), if done in Melbourne, and the printing of 1000 copies about £11.15. I may say from an interview I had with Mr. Crawford3 here that he thinks the plates cannot be properly executed in Adelaide for want of a good lithographer for this particular kind of work.
Of course the Govt will be entitled to a number of copies of the whole work as may be agreed upon.
Hoping that this first effort at giving a full monography of the to Australians specially interesting and useful genus of Eucalyptus will be supported by South Australia4
I have the honour to be
Sir
Your obedient servant
F Krichauff
To the Commissioner of Crown Land
Adelaide
Krichauff wrote the wrong year date; the file cover records the letter as having been written on 14 March and received on 15 March 1878.
The plates forwarded by Krichauff were 'handed back to him for the Conservator of Forests' on 2 June 1878.
Crawford not identified.
Krichauff's letter was 'Forwarded to the Curator of the Botanical Gardens [R. Schomburgk] for reprt and recommendation' on 15 March 1878; he replied on 20 March: 'Although the South Australian Eucalypts have been ably described by Mr. G. Bentham in his "Flora Australiensis" I think the Government should support the undertaking'. On 21 March, Playford minuted: 'Write and ask Mr Krichauff to state how many copies the Baron will supply to the Govt if they pay for lithographing the plates referred to ‑ cost not to exceed £200'.
See F. Krichauff to T. Playford, 25 April 1878 (in this edition as M78-04-25).
Please cite as “FVM-M78-03-14,” 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