Old Orchard,
Broadstone,
Wimborne.
Jan[uar]y. 14th. 1909
My dear Dresser
I got your letter directly I had written to your wife. As I should much like to meet Sir W[illia]m Preece1 & his son, I shall be pleased if you will invite tem to lunch on Saturday, & I will leave by the 4.10 train from Waterloo, which will give ample time. If Prof[essor] Poulton2 is at the lecture I should like you to ask him to breakfast [2] on Saturday, or if he cannot, then to meet us at the Insect Room of the Museum at a fixed time.
I do not know Dixon personally but have corresponded with him. He has written a whole lot of books on British Birds — &c. One of his last a Book on "Birds Nests", generally is a very interesting & useful volume. All this appears to have been the work of his life, & he is now like so many other writer on Natural History [3] in great poverty with a wife & family, and is trying to get a pension from the Roy[al], Literary Fund.
I gave him a kind of testimonial, saying much what I have said to you, & I hope he may get something — but there are so many applicants that I fear.
Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
P.S. The only thing I omitted to advise Mrs. Dresser was that the only kind of bread I eat now is a little thin toast cut off a "scone" or other kind of tea cake.
A. R. W.
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP1816.1705)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP1816,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1816