Ferdinand von Mueller

Melbourne, bot. Garden

14/6/69.

Sir

A wish having been recently on some occasion expressed, that a small volume descriptive of the plants of Victoria might be issued, I have the honor to enquire, whether such a work could be issued in the Gov. Printing Office, & if a vote of the Legislature could be provided for it next year. Should you deem the expenditure not desirable, as many publications more or less referring to Victorian plants have been issued already, I would beg leave to enquire, whether you would authorize me to ascertain the possibility of publishing such a volume by subscription through a private printing Office. I do not think that as yet in our community a publisher, willing to take the risk of such a work could be found nor do I believe, that a sufficient number of subscribers could be obtained to cover the expenses, altho I as the author would desire no monetary gain from the work. Nevertheless it might not be inappropriate to enquire, whether such a volume could be called forth in the ordinary manner of the book trade.

1

No evidence has been found that M approached publishers with this proposition. The only work that M produced that included all the Victorian tracheophyte flora was the two-volume Key, B86.04.05, B88.11.02. B79.06.04 included only the dicotyledons. See Lucas et al. (2006) for the difficulties that attended the production of these volumes.

The Honorable J. M. Grant, M.P.

President of the Board of Land & Works

&c &c &c

2

On 19 July 1869, Grant recommended to the Board 'that the Govt Botanist be authorized to enter into treaty for the publishing of the work with any bookseller willing to undertake the risk'. A later annotation records 'no decision'.