John Torrey Papers (PP), Archives, The New York Botanical Garden

Correspondence from Robert Kaye Greville to John Torrey, dated 1820-1849. Greville's first letter, dated November 9, 1820, marks the beginning of his correspondence with Torrey; still a medical student, he thanks Torrey for a gift of plant specimens and assures him he will be happy to correspond with him. While Greville does discuss issues of plant identification, his real obsession is botanical literature. His letters are packed with news of the latest publications, and the details of major illustrated works. "You would be surprized [sic] if you knew the disadvantages I labor under in Edinburgh," he writes in 1824. "There is no public library that cares a sixpence for botany. I am obligated to buy all the works I use; and often am as late in seeing things probably as you are." A few years later, Greville is able to discuss his own works, and those he collaborates on, particularly with William Jackson Hooker. In his last letter, dated 1849 and written after a long period of silence between the correspondents, Greville tells Torrey he has gotten rid of his "phaenogamous" plant specimens and is concentrating on the cryptogamia, when he isn't collecting freshwater and land mollusks and working as an artist. Obsolete plant names mentioned include Canna viridiflora and Erica mediterranea

Digitized under grant #PW-234827-16 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

Finding aid for the John Torrey papers available from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York Botanical Garden and online

Subjects: Algae; Botanical literature; Botanical specimens; Carex; Cyperaceae; Greville, Robert Kaye, 1794-1866; Torrey, John, 1796-1873; Agardh, C. A. (Carl Adolf), 1785-1859; Barratt, Joseph, 1796-1882; Barton, William P. C. (William Paul Crillon), 1786-1856; Bentham, George, 1800-1884; Boott, Francis, 1792-1863; Brewster, David, 1781-1868; Brown, Robert, 1773-1858; Burchell, William J. (William John), 1781-1863; Candolle, Augustin Pyramus de, 1778-1841; De Kay, James E. (James Ellsworth), 1792-1851; Don, David, 1799-1841; Elliott, Stephen, 1771-1830; Fée, Antoine Laurent Apollinaire, 1789-1874; Hedwig, Johannes, 1730-1799; Hooker, William Jackson, Sir, 1785-1865; Hornschuch, Christian Friedrich, 1793-1850; Horsfield, Thomas, 1773-1859; Jameson, William, 1796-1873; Lea, Thomas G. (Thomas Gibson), 1785-1844; Lindley, John, 1799-1865; Mohs, Carl Friedrich Christian, 1773-1839; Nees von Esenbeck, C. G. (Christian Gottfried), 1776-1858; Newcomb, Wesley, 1808-1892; Persoon, C. H. (Christiaan Hendrik), 1755-1837; Rafinesque, C. S. (Constantine Samuel), 1783-1840; Richardson, John, Sir, 1787-1865; Roscoe, William, 1753-1831; Schultes, Joseph August, 1773-1831; Schwaegrichen, F. (Friedrich), 1775-1853; Schweinitz, Lewis David von, 1780-1834; Selby, Prideaux John, 1788-1867; Smith, James Edward, 1759-1828; Sprengel, Kurt Polycarp Joachim, 1766-1833; Stewart, John, -1820; Sturm, Jakob, 1771-1848; Swainson, William, 1789-1855; Turner, Dawson, 1775-1858; Willdenow, Karl Ludwig, 1765-1812; Withering, William, 1741-1799; Wernerian Natural History Society; Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York