
          New York, October 17th 1837.

My dear Sir,

I have received from Sir Wm.[William] Hooker some books
for you which I shall forward in a day or two by 
the New Haven SteamBoat. If possible, I will avoid
paying the duties. The collector gave me a free order 
to have the boxes (one addressed to me & the other for Dr.
Harris of Boston) delivered without being opened as I
told him there was every reason for believeing that Dr. Harris'
contains only insects & mine, botanical specimens and 
a few books. I promised to report to him if there 
were many books. On opening the box I was surprised 
to find nothing but books in it, mainly for yourself &
a few for Dr. Greene of Boston & one or two others. The
collector may suffer you to escape without paying
anything, as the books were in effect ordered by
you. The value of the volumes sent by Sir Wm.[William]
[taking them at their regular selling price in London)
is considerably greater than the price of the Am.[American] Jour.[Journal] of
Science. They are the Icones filicium. 2 vols. folio, handsomely

        