As part of my work on Alfred Russel Wallace and his introduction to botanical study, I had to go to the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) archives held by University College London (though currently housed at the National Archives).
There I wanted to look at the correspondence with the SDUK of the botanist and inaugural Professor of Botany at UCL, John Lindley (1799-1865), to see if it threw up anything interesting for my research. This it certainly did. (more…)