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[Letterhead list of names. On left side: H. H. BARTLETT B. M. DAVIS E. B. MAINS W. R. TAYLOR D. V. BAXTER J. H. EHLERS W. W. TUPPER
On right: C. D. LA RUE F. G. GUSTAFSON L. E. WEHMEYER C. A. ARNOLD K. L. JONES W. C. STEERE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY]
14 May 1934.
My dear Mrs. Ruth;
In completing our set of Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth I seem to remember paying $50.00 for [underlined one] of the three volumes which ^I presume^ you have, and to have considered it a great bargain. Unless I remember incorrectly, they are sometimes sold for as much as $100 a volume.
If you will copy the essential part of the ^individual^ title page of [underlined each volume] I will ^then^ be sure of what you have (the complete set is a very extensive one) and
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will be glad to let you know what you should expect to get for each volume. They are very valuable and can surely bring a good price.
We prize very highly the collections which our herbarium received from Professor Ruth. He was a very careful and discriminating botanist whose work was always so well done that it was a pleasure indeed to receive specimens from him. It is very unfortunate that so much of what he accomplished should have been destroyed in the fire at the University of Tennessee, but he distributed
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[Letterhead with names as page 1]
duplicates so widely that I suspect vouchers for most of his records still exist in one or more of the large collections, even if not at the University of Tennessee, which was presumed to have the best set.
I suppose the University of Tennessee has been interested in getting his private herbarium. If the herbarium is not all sold to a single purchaser, there are parts that we would be more than glad to get. For instance I should like to buy at 15 c per specimen all that he may have
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of Juncaceae, (genera Juncus and Luzula, or Juncoides), all that he had in Oenothera, in Suercus, and perhaps in various other groups, if you find it necessary to break up the collection in order to sell it. I mean, of course, single sheets of each collection number, and not the duplicates.
Wishing you every success in disposing of the herbarium and books to good advantage, I remain,
Very sincerely yours, H. H. Bartlett