Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], 21 Regent Street, London

Information

Title: Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], 21 Regent Street, London

Scope & content: Written from Hong Kong

The letter includes an opened seal. Written on onion-skin paper. Annotated on the reverse: 'Via Southampton'

Letter No 24

He said in his last letter that he had shipped eight cases of plants on the Duke of Portland; he has made arrangements to travel to England on the John Cooper, whose captain agreed to take his whole collection of 18 glazed cases on the poop [poop deck]; the passage will cost £120, with freight at two guineas per case, to be paid on arrival to England; the ship will sail today, and he expects to arrive in England by the end of April; he has balanced his accounts with Messrs Dent & Co [merchants in China] and given them a bill for £35; he will write up his accounts for December when he reaches England