Alexandre BOURJOT (1801-1886), naturalist and physician, aut - Lot 25

Lot n° 25
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Alexandre BOURJOT (1801-1886), naturalist and physician, aut - Lot 25
Alexandre BOURJOT (1801-1886), naturalist and physician, author of Histoire naturelle des parroquets, a sumptuous work that follows on from Levaillant's two volumes; he settled in Algeria for a time and edited several natural history and geology publications on the country: Note sur l'âge différentiel des roches qui constituent le massif d'Alger (1861), Découverte d'une grotte à la Pointe-Pescade près d'Alger (1868), Liste des poissons que l'on rencontre le plus souvent au marché d'Alger (1870), Histoire naturelle du massif d'Alger, etc. He married the daughter of Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and added Saint-Hilaire's name to his own on his scientific publications. 122 autograph letters signed to botanist Gaetano Durando (1811-1892), Algiers. 212 pp. in-8 (mostly). Algiers, Paris, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Millanah 1858-1885. Addresses on spine or stamped envelopes. Exceptional correspondence to "mon cher camarade de Botanique", mainly devoted to Algerian botany, testifying to their friendship and scientific complicity. They organized herborizations, exchanged information on their discoveries, and so on. One letter is illustrated with a sketch of a flower. "Millianah Tuesday 21st. My dear Durando, I left this morning at six o'clock from Dira with my little Breketmes, distance 26 km, magnificent mountain road [...]. I studied our zaccar how it should be taken - by the horns or by the tail. I think it's best to take it east-southeast, where it's easy or at least less difficult, grassy and forested [...]. So on Sunday 9th, or rather Saturday 8th evening, we'll leave around 3pm and settle in at Georges' road-mender's, a good man to whom it's better to leave 5 francs than at Massias', a kind of brothel with a casing. We'll sleep there with the Bidets, then with an Arab driver, we'll start walking on horseback, as far as we can, then climb as high as we can on horseback, and reach the summit in 4 hours. We'll come back to sleep at Hammas and Dira, rest there on Monday and leave around 1 a.m. to come and sleep at Bourkika [...]. If you accept, please let me know immediately [...}. I shall be happy to consecrate our old friendship under the presence of the only God, on the summit of one of our great and beautiful mountains [...]". "I have just collated my herbarium and I have pointed out the species collated - and named on Mumby's catalog - with the species of M. Choutelle and Antier that I have not yet been able to collate, nor name, it only amounts to 800 or so, you see that I am not yet very rich, even after 18 months of research. Now please take care, as you seem very anxious to do, to choose the 400 Saharan species in particular, which you would like to give me for my own future research. I beg you to choose from the species I do not have: 1° composites 2° legumes [...]". On his return to France, he continued to cultivate botany, recounting his life and the education of his son Médine, whom he introduced to botany, and sharing his discoveries with him. "I cultivate botany thanks to a little Beautier (Tableau analytique de la Flore parisienne & au synopsis de la flore des environs de Paris, which I've found here) that I keep in my pockets. I use these species name searches for Medin's instruction and for the benefit of our rabbits. I've found that these interesting Rosicatores (from Blainville) like to graze on Achillea millefolium and Artemisia campertus, both of which form huge clumps in our sandy soil. I'm collecting big bundles of them on my way back from driving Medin. I'll also have fun making a herbarium of the locality of the Marne peninsula. The river itself is rich in swamp plants. So the other day I picked up Senecio paladosus, a beautiful and large species [...]". Attached are various documents: announcements (including Bourjot's death), flyers announcing the sale of Alexandre Bourjot's home in Saint-Euène (near Algiers) and a neurological note on Bourjot.
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