Collection of c.64 autograph letters from nineteenth- and twentieth-century naturalists, scientists and illustrators, including an autograph letter from Charles Darwin and a small group of ornithological illustrations by George Edward Lodge, comprising:

DARWIN (CHARLES): Autograph letter signed ("Ch. Darwin") to Mr Baxter, pharmacist of Bromley ("Dear Sir"), regarding a pair of gloves which are "...not at all tougher or stiffer than those which I possess. If you could get me a pair made with stiffer hairs, or bristles, I should be very much obliged..."; with transcription and note of provenance on reverse ("...The articles referred to are Dinneford's Friction Gloves. And Mr Baxter informs me that they were compelled ultimately to have some specially made for Mr Darwin..."), signed and dated ("J.E. Saul/ 12 Mar.88"), one page, dust-staining and marks, creased, edges frayed, small tears, old repair to reverse, oblong 8vo (140 x 218mm.), Down, 23 September [dated 1879 in pencil but likely 1857-1859]

Five autograph letters from Richard Owen (autograph letter with envelope to W.H. Ince, much pleased with his pamphlet and including six line drawings of his specimens of Polycystema, others recommending a taxidermist, asking for a letter to be forwarded to The Lancet and sending a family photograph, another to artist John Gould thanking him for the "...second beautiful Part of the Macropodidae..."); two from Thomas Henry Huxley (to Hooker enclosing correspondence and to Rodgers making arrangements to meet); William Whewell; Roderick Murchison (2); Joseph Dalton Hooker (4, including one to George Cubitt, asking to visit him at Denbies "...I think you have a good many of my Himalayan Rhododendrons & other plants..." and another to Matilda Smith regarding plates in the Botanical Magazine); John Lubbock (3, one to Sir William Thomson confirming that the Tarawera made a voyage to Melbourne successfully lit by the Edison Co., commenting "...only ten lamps were broken...", another to Lady Hooker); Archibald Thorburn (3, one on a honey buzzard, the other a critique of an artist's work "...the attitudes seem a little stiff..."); palaeontologist Louis Agassiz; zoologist Ernst Haeckel; ornithologist John Gould; physicist John Tyndall (to Hooker asking for a contribution for a memorial to Dr Mayer); Charles Lyell (2, one to James Smith regarding "...and old ornament in cannel coal lying on till & under marine gravel...", the other sending a specimen to the Malvern Museum although it had reached London broken and he "...had to cement the pieces together..."); Adam Sedgwick (2); Robert Fitzroy (to Henry George Calcraft noting his wife has left for the continent and enclosing "...this morning's weather report..." [not included], Alfred Russel Wallace (5, two to author Sarah Tooley suggesting she read his papers on inheritance, Human Selection and Human Progress, others to John Enys (inviting him to his "large wild garden") and F.C. Owlett (on Borrow's ghost story and wishing him success with his own writing); Sir Joseph Banks (2 page draft letter, unsigned, to James Bruce informing him that the British Museum has accepted his Oriental manuscripts and mentioning corrections to plates submitted by his engraver, July 1788); Alexander von Humbolt (2); illustrator Joseph Wolf (letter making corrections to his illustrations, together with a watercolour of a Common Tern, 162 x 150mm.)

Autograph letter signed ("Kathleen Scott") to Mrs Evans, wife of Antarctic Explorer Edgar Evans, "...Captain Scott has sent his diary back from the Antarctic & I think you will be glad to hear how well he speaks of your husband... he has worked so hard and so willingly through every sort of difficulty - & finally being chosen to go to the Pole... indispensable... My husband asked me to tell you how splendid he has been...", 2 pages, dust-staining and marks, 4to, Shingle End, Sandwich, 19 August [1911]; with seven letters from her son Peter Markham Scott, three typed, six to Christopher, one regarding a swivel gun, others on publications and birdlife ("...Some Marbled Teal arrived from Basra this week & some very nice Eastern Greylags..."), another on the Waterfowl Registry ("...we have 100 species now – including some rare things...")

Group of four finely-painted watercolours by renowned illustrator and falconer George Edward Lodge (1860-1954) including "Alca impennis" (Great Auk), "Cacatua leadbeateri" (Pink Cockatoo), a sandpiper and a gull, 207 x 137mm. and smaller), and a pencil drawing of a hawk, accompanied by three autograph letters to "Philip" describing hawking in Scotland, the publication of Birds of the British Isles (collaborating with Bannerman "...his wife is telling him that he will turn into a Snowy Owl if he is not careful..."), the last on a trip to Cornwall ("...I go on Monday to Scotland with Peter Harmsworth, his wife, 1 terrier, 1 spaniel, 3 puppies, 4 peregrines, 1 Gy falcon and 2 sparrowhawks so we shall be a lively party..."), and a photograph of the artist in his studio; and much else, c.90 leaves, some letters loose, others affixed to album page, entries interspersed with typed biographies, modern embossed half calf, marbled boards, red spine label with title 'Letters/ Naturalists/ Scientists/ Explorers' and date '1995' in gilt, embossed floral decoration within raised bands, folio (400 x 270mm.), [nineteenth- and twentieth-century]