WCP5465

Letter (WCP5465.6195)

[1]1

Parkstone, Dorset.

July 6th. 1897

T. E. Ashworth Esq.

Dear Sir

Books on Zoology & Botany are now so numerous & varied that it is impossible to recommend any in particular without knowing the exact object in view, or the particular branch that attracts you. If you want merely to gain some knowledge of, & interest in, nature, Hooker’s2, 3 — or any other "British Flora" will suffice to begin with, and any of the numerous books on British Mammals, Birds, Insects etc.

But if you wish to study Biology for purposes of Examination, you will [2] have to get special Text Books, dealing mainly with the Anatomy & Physiology of animals & plants, and any of the Professors in your northern Universities would be the best person to apply to.

Believe me | Yours truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

1
Stamp on the top right of page 1 reads "PR.ST. — BIBL | <291> |Dokum. Slg."
2
Hooker, William Jackson (1785-1865), botanist. Appointed first full-time director of the royal gardens at Kew in 1841
3
Hooker, William Jackson. (1830). The British flora. Comprising the phaenogamous, or flowering plants, and the ferns. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London. There were at least seven editions, the seventh in 1855, some co-authored by George Arnott Walker-Arnott.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP5465.6195)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Lucas, Paula [2014-08-14] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2014-08-14] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Envelope (WCP5465.6196)

Envelope addressed to "T. E. Ashworth Esq, Todmorden, via Manchester", with stamp, postmarked "PARKSTONE | D | JY 6 | 97"; postmark on back. [Envelope (WCP5465.6196)]

Please cite as “WCP5465,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5465