Ɛpsilon

WCP1780

Letter (WCP1780.1666)

[1]

Hurstpierpoint1

May 5th. 1868

Dear Dr. Hooker2

Mr. Mitten3 tells me you kindly enquired after me at the Linnaean Soirée (where I am sorry I was not able to be present) and he thinks you asked if I was going to Switzerland this year. As I have almost determined to go in June & thinking you may know some gentleman & lady who would join me & my wife,4 I write to say that I one of our chief objects [2] is to see the Alpine flowers & make a small collection of them, & I should much like a person with similar tastes as a companion.

We propose staying chiefly at Champery (foot of the Dent du Midi) and Zermatt, and come back by Aosta & Gt. St. Bernard if the weather is fine.

Can you be so good as to inform me if there is any portable flora of Switzerland or part of it, in French, — or if Wood's Tourist's Flora5 is the best [3] book I can take with me. Hoping Mrs. Hooker6 & all your family are quite well.

Believe me | yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Dr. Hooker.7

1
Home of the Mittens, Treeps, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, England.
2
Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). British botanist and explorer. Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1865-85. President of the Royal Society 1873-78.
3
Mitten, William (1819-1906). Father-in-law of ARW; chemist and authority on bryophytes.
4
Wallace (née Mitten), Annie (1846-1914). British. Wife of ARW; daughter of William Mitten.
5
Woods, Joseph. 1850. The Tourist's Flora: a Descriptive Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the British Islands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the Italian Islands. London: Reeve and Benham.
6
Hooker (née Henslow), Frances Harriet (1825-1874). Daughter of John Stevens Henslow. Married Hooker in 1851.
7
The foot of the page below "Dr. Hooker" is annotated in pencil in ARW's hand, "Koch Centr Flora Germania & Helvetica | Gillet & Magne | France proper".

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1780.1666)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Lester, Ahren [2013-02-15] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2019-12-20] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2025-03-03]

Please cite as “WCP1780,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1780