GOSSE, Sir Edmund (1849-1928). Poet and man of letters.
Autograph Letter Signed to W. Lavers, 2 pages 8vo on conjoint leaves (not facing), 1 Whitehall, 13 January 1882. A small press photograph of Gosse pasted to the first page). Giving his views on translation work, and asking after his family.

'I know one or two people who would be glad to undertake the translation you speak of, if it were properly paid for, but the remuneration your friend suggests is utterly inadequate. I have always felt that it was wrong to try and lower the price of work in cases of this kind, where poverty might sometimes tempt a man to catch at anything. So I am afraid Mr. Lee must try and puzzle it out for himself. ...'

Lavers had been an aquaintance and fellow orchid-collector of Gosse's father, Philip Henry Gosse (1810-1880, zoologist and religious writer), who was to become the subject of his most famous book, Father and Son (1907).
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