Henri MILNE-EDWARDS (1800-1885), zoologist. - Lot 440

Lot n° 440
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Result : 440EUR
Henri MILNE-EDWARDS (1800-1885), zoologist. - Lot 440
Henri MILNE-EDWARDS (1800-1885), zoologist. 3 autograph letters signed to scientist, explorer and writer Lucien Biart (1828-1897), member of the Scientific Commission of Mexico. 10 pp. in-8, letterheads of the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle and the Faculté des Sciences de Paris. Paris, 1863-1865. Interesting correspondence on Lucien Biart's collections of Mexican animals donated to the Muséum (at the age of 18, in 1846, Lucien Biart sailed for Mexico, and sent the Muséum several important collections of insects and birds). "The administration of the Muséum has received from His Excellency the Minister of Public Instruction the interesting collection of birds you sent for this scientific establishment, and I hasten to express our gratitude. Last year, the Museum had already received a collection of insects which the Minister also owed to your zeal for science, and I hope that you will not stop there. As France, like England, does not have colonies in almost every corner of the globe, our national museum has great difficulty in maintaining its position alongside the British museum in London, and it is only thanks to the zeal of our compatriots in distant countries that we are able to achieve this [...]. I would therefore ask you to take the Museum's interests in hand and tell me what could be done. I would be very keen to have not only bird skins but also some live animals, and if the acquisition and transport of these can be done without great expense, I would like to have, among other things, a Cervus mexicanus doe, of which we have a male in our menagerie. It would therefore give me great pleasure if you would give me some information on the mammals and birds you think you can procure for me [...]". A few months later, he informed her that he had finally purchased a female Cervus Mexicanus, and that the Emperor had just decreed the creation of a commission "for the study of Mexico from a scientific and archaeological point of view", which would facilitate the transport of the animals. "The crate you have announced has not yet arrived at the Ministry; I await it impatiently, as I am sure to find many interesting things in it. As soon as I have seen it, I will report to my colleagues on the Mexico Commission [...]". On his return to Paris, he makes contact to visit his collections and together open the "crates containing the natural history objects that you would like to enrich our national collections [...]".
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