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Autographs from a private Japanese collection
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Autograph letter signed ('Ch. Darwin') to [John Jenner Weir], Down, 20 May [1869]
Details
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Autograph letter signed ('Ch. Darwin') to [John Jenner Weir], Down, 20 May [1869]
Three pages, approx. 190 x 122mm, bifolium, printed address. Envelope. Framed and glazed. Provenance: William Francis Gable, Altoona, PA (1856-1921, founder of Gable's Department Store) – his sale, American Art Association, New York, 10 March 1924, lot 739 (one of two letters); Christie's New York, 17 October 1988, lot 1229.
On the migratory behaviour of birds. Darwin interrogates Weir on his observations of migratory birds, referencing information provided by [John] Gould. Darwin asks whether Weir has knowledge of the different habits of male and female specimens and, if not, whether they can identify a naturalist based in or near Brighton, who Darwin believes may have closely studied the subject.
'Mr Gould told me that male nightingales immigrate before the females; and that he had ascertained this was the case with the snipe and he believed that it was general with migratory Birds ... There is a man in or near Brighton, who sometimes writes in the Ibis, and who I imagine may be a bird-stuffer, and who seems to have paid special attention to migratory Birds. ... I fear that the migratory birds are not largely caught by the Bird-catchers; and the South coast would be the best place for observation'.
The amateur entomologist and ornithologist John Jenner Weir (1822–1894) was a frequent correspondent of Darwin's, to whom he provided significant data. The ornithologist and publisher John Gould (1804–1881) had worked closely with Darwin on the identification of his bird specimens from the Beagle voyage, most famously 'Darwin's finches'. Darwin was particularly interested in the role of migratory birds in dispersing plant and animal species over long distances. DCP-LETT-6753
Autograph letter signed ('Ch. Darwin') to [John Jenner Weir], Down, 20 May [1869]
Three pages, approx. 190 x 122mm, bifolium, printed address. Envelope. Framed and glazed. Provenance: William Francis Gable, Altoona, PA (1856-1921, founder of Gable's Department Store) – his sale, American Art Association, New York, 10 March 1924, lot 739 (one of two letters); Christie's New York, 17 October 1988, lot 1229.
On the migratory behaviour of birds. Darwin interrogates Weir on his observations of migratory birds, referencing information provided by [John] Gould. Darwin asks whether Weir has knowledge of the different habits of male and female specimens and, if not, whether they can identify a naturalist based in or near Brighton, who Darwin believes may have closely studied the subject.
'Mr Gould told me that male nightingales immigrate before the females; and that he had ascertained this was the case with the snipe and he believed that it was general with migratory Birds ... There is a man in or near Brighton, who sometimes writes in the Ibis, and who I imagine may be a bird-stuffer, and who seems to have paid special attention to migratory Birds. ... I fear that the migratory birds are not largely caught by the Bird-catchers; and the South coast would be the best place for observation'.
The amateur entomologist and ornithologist John Jenner Weir (1822–1894) was a frequent correspondent of Darwin's, to whom he provided significant data. The ornithologist and publisher John Gould (1804–1881) had worked closely with Darwin on the identification of his bird specimens from the Beagle voyage, most famously 'Darwin's finches'. Darwin was particularly interested in the role of migratory birds in dispersing plant and animal species over long distances. DCP-LETT-6753
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts