102 
Mr. James Edward Smith to his Father. 
Honoured Sir, London, April 10, 1784. 
I was a little impatient to hear how you got home. 
On Tuesday I received the wished-for catalogue 
from Sweden: it is very full and exact, much better 
than I expected. There are many valuable books: 
such as the King of Denmark’s book of shells, like 
that at Cambridge; Sloane’s Jamaica, worth ten or 
twelve guineas; and many others worth from five to 
ten pounds; besides a complete collection of the 
most useful books in natural history, and many 
medical books. The greater part are Latin, many 
French, English, Italian, some Swedish, &c. There 
are also a few books which from their extreme 
scarcity sell for an exorbitant price; one little book 
on insects, coloured, for a copy of which Sir Joseph 
Banks gave books to the value of thirty pounds, 
and which has long been sought for in vain for the 
Royal library. The whole number of works is about 
1600, of volumes above 2000. The manuscripts 
also are very valuable, full as much as could be 
imagined. Plants 19,000: insects, shells, &c. are 
said to be very valuable and numerous, but of these 
I am soon to have a further account. 
There is a collection of plants called the small 
herbarium of young Linneus, which was collected 
before his father’s death, and contains nothing but 
what is in the great herbarium: this he desired be- 
fore his death might go to Baron Alstromer to sa- 
tisfy a debt of 200 rix dollars (fifty-five pounds) 
