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GB 235 RBG/1/SIB · Collection · 1670 - 1922
Part of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Institutional Archives

•1 box of papers and a study of the Life of Sibbald, Dr Archibald Pitcairne (The first professors of medicine in the University of Edinburgh) also Charles Alston and John Hope.
•Copy of Doctor of Medicine R.S. ‘Provision for the Poor in Time of Dearth and Scarcity.’ Second Edition, ECCO Prints (2011).
Temporary numbering and listing (M.R.):
Box 1 of 2
• GB 235 SIB/1 Typescript copies and photocopies. Sources include Peel Ritchie, “Early Days of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh”; Sir Alexander Grant, “Story of the University of Edinburgh”; Alexander Bower, “History of the University of Edinburgh,” 1817; Andrew Dalzel, “History of the University of Edinburgh,” 1862. Subjects include the establishment of a medical school and Chair of Botany at the University of Edinburgh; history of the Royal College of Physicians; founding of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden; misc. descriptions of Edinburgh sites, including the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Arthur’s Seat, and the Physic Garden (extract from “Historical Description of the Monastery and Chapel Royal at Holyroodhouse”); life of Robert Sibbald; burning of Sibbald’s house; pensions paid to Papists; outcry against Sibbald’s desertion of the Protestant religion (extracts from Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, “The Decisions of the Lords of Council and Session” and “Historical Observes”, 1685); nomenclature of plants referred to in Sibbald’s History of Fife (extracts from Scots Magazine, 1803–1804; extracts from Sibbald’s Scotia Illustrata, with a description of the Edinburgh Physick Garden; transcript of letter from Sibbald on his “memoria Balfouriana,” June 1699; photocopy of note from W.W. Smith to J.T. Johnstone, on Sir Andrew Balfour, 1932; 2 photocopies of newspaper cutting on the unveiling of a plaque at Greyfriars Kirk to commemorate Sibbald, Sept. 1981.
• GB 235 SIB/2 Ms. letter from Raymond Morris of Balgonie & Eddergoll to the Regius Keeper, on Robert Sibbald’s connections with Balgonie, Nov. 2003, and reply from Douglas R. McKean, Nov. 2003; postcard (aerial view) of Balgonie Castle, Fife; brochure with photographs and history of Balgonie Castle.

Box 2 of 2
• GB 235 SIB/3 Binder, typescripts. Subjects include biographies of Sir Robert Sibbald, Dr. Archibald Pitcairne, Dr. Charles Alston, and Dr. John Hope; Charta Erectionis (in Latin), Charter of Ratification, and Regulations, Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, 1685; Regulations respecting Medical Degrees of the University of Edinburgh. “The Author has occasionally inserted in his work Biographical Notices of various eminent Physicians and Surgeons, both in these Islands & on the Continent, who were contemporaries and correspondents of the Professors whose lives he has attempted to record.”
Note: “See the MS. volume in library, letters in pocket at back, referring to the provenance of the original work,” Sept., 1966.

Access points:
History of RBGE
History of Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh

Name access points:
Charles Alston
Sir Andrew Balfour
John Hope
Raymond Morris of Balgonie & Eddergoll
Archibald Pitcairne

Sibbald, Sir Robert
GB 235 RJF/4 · Subfonds · 1919-1920
Part of Reginald Farrer Collection

A collection of 13 letters purchased at auction in 2008, written by Reginald Farrer and most likely sent to the British Diplomat Ernest Frederick Gye C.M.G., though Farrer tends to refer to him as his “Poison”, “Viper” or “Venom”.
Gye's mother was the singer Dame Emma Albani and his father was Ernest Gye, the lessee of Covent Garden theatre. Gye entered the Foreign Office in 1903, became Second Secretary in 1908 and Councillor in 1924. He served for some years in Tehran in the earlier part of his career (and where he was when these letters were written) before being appointed Minister and Consul General in Tangier in 1933. Three years later he was made Minister Plenipotentiary in Venezuela, retiring in 1939.
The 13 letters were written in Upper Burma (now Myanmar), mainly from Hpimaw and Nyitadi, and date between May 1919 and September 1920, the last being written only five weeks before his death. The letters are liberally peppered with nicknames and gossip, and the identity of everyone mentioned may never be known; for example, his 1919 travelling companion, fellow plant collector Euan Cox, is often referred to by the name “Jumps”. In amongst intimate information and personal references are descriptions of the country, people met and plants collected.

Gye, Ernest Frederick
GB 235 RJF/3 · Subfonds · 1909-1920
Part of Reginald Farrer Collection

The albums appear to be from William Purdom who travelled and collected plants with Reginald Farrer in Kansu / Gansu, northern China in 1914-1915, but one was compiled by Reginald Farrer and three relate to their collecting trip, so all 5 albums have been stored within the Reginald Farrer collection.

Farrer, Reginald John
GB 235 RJF/1 · Subfonds · 1913-1987
Part of Reginald Farrer Collection

Two boxes of correspondence, seed lists and field notes to, from and relating to Reginald Farrer and his expeditions to Kansu (Gansu) in Northern China (1914-1915) and Upper Burma (1919-1920) and one box containing a photo album and letter. These records were likely brought together from various sources within the RBGE Archives so that items relating to Farrer were kept together. It has been decided to keep this collection together.

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (Creator)
Reginald Farrer Collection
GB 235 RJF · Fonds · 1880 - 2004

The Reginald Farrer collection comprises correspondence between Reginald Farrer and his family (his mother in particular), E.A. Bowles, John Buchan, Sir Francis Younghusband, Ernest Gye, Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour and others as detailed below. It also includes paintings, photographs, 35mm slides, glass plate negatives and lantern slides covering mainly his two plant collecting expeditions to China in 1914-15 and Burma in 1919-1920, as well as scripts for plays written by Farrer.

Farrer, Reginald John
GB 235 BOF · Collection · 1880 - 1925

12 black and white photographs that appear to have once been the property of Frederick Orpen Bower, four of them being used as figures in his 1925 publication 'Plants and Man'. The photographers appear to be mainly Skeen and Scowen of the Colombo Apothecaries Co. Ltd, Ceylon [Sri Lanka].
Descriptions of the photographs are as follows:

  • Peradeniya Gardens; ‘No. 20’; marked ‘Frontispiece’ with annotated instructions for reproduction in ‘Plants and Man’ by Bower; photo credited in the publication as being ‘Bases of the stems of the Giant Bamboo (Dendrocalamus), in Peradeniya Gardens, Ceylon, with a garden-coolie standing at their foot. Photograph by Mr. Skene.’ [Skeen]. Photograph glued to contemporary stiff board.
  • Corypha umbraculifera (Talipot); marked with C.A. Co. (?) Ceylon and stamped with [Apothe]caries Co. Photographers, [Colombo,] Ceylon; ‘218’ glued to reverse; annotated with printing instructions; edited version used as Fig.22A (p.48) in ‘Plants and Man’ as ‘A Talipot Palm (Corypha umbaculifera) in the flowering state’; photograph credited to Mr Skene [Skeen]. Photograph glued to contemporary stiff board.
  • Corypha umbraculifera. The last stage of the Talipot; marked with ‘& Co. Ceylon’ - name obscured, and stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; edited version used as Fig.22B (p.49) in ‘Plants and man’ as ‘The same Palm after fruiting. The photographs were taken by Mr. Skene [Skeen], Ceylon.’ Photograph glued to herbarium sheet.
  • Bamboo Stems; stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; ‘217’ glued to reverse, annotated with printing instructions; edited version used as Fig.86 (p.215) in ‘Plants and man’ as ‘Photograph showing the Bases of Bamboo Stems which may grow over 100 feet high. The stems are marked by rings, each of which is a leaf insertion, and the hollow stem is there supported by a hard transverse plate or septum. Note that at the base, where the leverage will be greatest, the septa are nearest together, so that the resistance will be greatest there. One of the young conical shoots has been cut so as to show the septa, crowded before the shoot has elongated.’ No photography credit given.
  • ‘Nos 19 and 20, Giant Bamboos’; this photo marked ‘No.19’; ‘219’ glued to reverse; annotated with printing instructions, including ‘Schimper, make block from this, not from book’; used as Fig.87 (p.217) in ‘Plants and man’ as ‘Group of Giant Bamboos (Dendrocalamus giganteus) in the Royal Botanic Garden, Peradeniya, Ceylon. Note the man at the foot of the clump which gives the scale : also the successively shorter internodes at the base of the stems, and the curvatures above. (After Schimper.) Compare Frontispiece, and Fig. 86’. Photograph glued to contemporary stiff board.
  • Corypha umbraculifera; young Talipot palms, No.519; marked with C.A. Co. Ltd, Ceylon, but other letters seem to have been scored out; stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; photograph glued to herbarium sheet.
  • Caryota urens (Kitul) 144; marked with C.A. Co. Ltd, Ceylon; stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; photograph glued to herbarium sheet.
  • Caryota urens. Branches of the Influorescense of the Kitul Palm shewing development of fruit. marked with Scowen & Co. Ltd (almost scored out), Ceylon; stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; photograph glued to herbarium sheet.
  • Oreodoxa regia; Avenue of Cabbage Palms, Peradeniya Gardens; further annotated with ‘Cabbage Palms, Peradeniya Gardens (Scowen); marked with Scowen & Co. Ltd? (scored out), Ceylon; stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; photograph glued to herbarium sheet
  • Cocos nucifera; Cocoa-nut Palm, 143; marked with C.A. Co. Ltd, Ceylon; stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; photograph glued to herbarium sheet.
  • Lodoicea seychellarum – Double Cocoa-nut Palm, 125; marked with Scowen & Co. But scored out so it reads C.A. Co. Ltd; stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; photograph glued to herbarium sheet.
  • Ravenala madagascariensis (Traveller’s Palm) 557?; marked with Scowen & Co. But scored out so it reads C.A. Co. Ltd, Ceylon; stamped with ‘Botanical Department, University Glasgow.’ and ‘Apothecaries Co. Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon’; photograph glued to herbarium sheet.
Bower, Frederick Orpen