31 Burlington St <1>
23 May 1859
My dear Henry
Charlotte <2> & Emma <3> tell me you are likely to be at Lacock – but that the wedding <4> is not to be there I dare say business or science will bring you to town – if you come up call here where we shall be the next two months I fear <–> Caroline <5> is in town but I have not seen her – I hope to do so before she returns to Mt Edgbe <6>
I have been to Veitch’s <7> & Hendersons <8> – the weather is not fine enough for Kew or Chiswick. I am glad to see Ferns so much cultivated. You should get Arthur Henderson’s complete catalogue of his stock of ferns, very well got up & worth keeping. Also Smith of Kew’s little shilling Catalogue of Ferns, <9> a most useful manual & the best authority – Moore’s British Ferns <10> – & Index Filicum <11> – 5 Nos out &, with all known synonyms – not got beyond Asplenium or thereabouts – are very good too – & I am taking Hooker’s Species Filicum <12> as the last resort of the order.
The. Maskelyne <13> has been very ill but is better – Traherne <14> looks poorly. Write here
Yr aff
Wm
Notes:
1. 31 Burlington Street, London home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
2. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
3. Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
4. Of Matilda Talbot.
5. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
6. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
7. See Doc. No: 04477.
8. Nurserymen, of Pineapple Place, patronised by WFS and WHFT over many years. See Doc. No: 01997and Doc. No: 06818.
9. Probably John Smith (1798–1888), Cultivated ferns; or, A catalogue of exotic and indigenous ferns cultivated in British gardens,…, London, W. Pamplin, 1857.
10. Thomas Moore (1821–1887), British Ferns and their Allies, London, 1859, an abridgment of his Popular History of British Ferns, 1851. He also published a Handbook of British Ferns, 1848.
11. Thomas Moore (1821–1887), Index Filicum [20 parts ending at letter G], London, W. Pamplin, 1857–1862.
12. Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865), Species Filicum, being descriptions of the known ferns…, London, W. Pamplin, 1846–1864.
13. Daughter of WHFT’s cousin Emma, and wife of Nevil Story-Maskelyne. See Doc. No: 07848.
14. Rev John Montgomerie Traherne (1788–1860), JP & author.