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Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Letter and Photograph, 1867, n.d., #10343-f, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
The Library purchased this letter on July 23, 1993, from Jerry N. Showalter, Bookseller, Ivy, Virginia.
This collection consists of a two page letter, August 11, 1867, from Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), Farringford, to Mrs. Joseph Hooker, wife of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), director of Kew Gardens, in which he states, "Dr. Hooker is far more likely than myself to know whether the C. grandiflora is found in the South Polynesian islands."
Tennyson then directs Mrs. Hooker to a reference to brilliant pink blossoms mentioned in Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly eight years in the Society and Sandwich Islands by William Ellis (1794-1872) as a clue concerning the possible identification of the flower. Also present is an undated sepia carte de viste of Tennyson.