Search: Wallace, Alfred Russel in correspondent 
Spruce, Richard in correspondent 
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project in contributor 
Sorted by:

Showing 110 of 10 items

Text Online
From:
Alfred Russel Wallace
To:
Richard Spruce
Date:
[19 Sept. 1852 - 5 Oct. 1852]
Source of text:
  • Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/24
  • University of Dundee: UR-SF 2/17/2
  • Wallace, A. R. (1908). In: My Life: a Record of Events and Opinions (2nd edition). London: Chapman & Hall. [pp. 151-160]
Summary:

Describes the disastrous burning and sinking of the "Helen" off Brazil, loss of his collections, ten days in lifeboat almost starving, rescue and return to London via a passing vessel 200 miles from Bermuda, insurance coverage for lost collections. On 6th of August, the captain said “I am afraid the ship’s on fire.” Crew spent a whole day tearing apart cargo seeking its source, but too late to save the ship. All boarded two leaky life boats, which required constant bailing. Still weak from illness; skinned his hands descending rope into boat. ARW salvaged only a small tin box containing drawings of fish and palm trees, his watch, and a few sovereigns. “The reward of my four years of privation & danger was lost.” Kept near the ship as it burned for days, hoping they would attract a rescue vessel; eventually were picked up near Bermuda. Return to England took seventy days, more than double the original passage to South America. Barely survived on meager rations of biscuits and raw pork. Update note October 1st: Arrived at Deal. “Oh! glorious day!...beef steaks & damson tart, a paradise for hungry sinners.”

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
10 October 1852
Source of text:
Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/25
Summary:

Describes chaotic political situation in Barra; “the President went away & left no one in charge of the state.” Officials have sucked all the money in the Treasury. Worst season of year; no collecting; living on very meager food. Will stay 12 or 15 months although it’s very difficult and is unhappy “buried in forest.” Disturbed by unsettling news of problems in England received via London papers; voyage by river from San Gabriel to San Jeronimo; collecting specimens of ferns; plans to travel with Agostinho; problems with lazy, incompetent Indian servants; wants news of whether Sir Robt Humbugck [sic: Schomburgk] has published on vegetation of Rio Negro.

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
2 July 1853
Source of text:
Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/26
Summary:

Became worried when hadn’t heard from you (ARW); wondered what “catastrophe” found you, “whether you were shipwrecked, or got married” or overdosed “on plum pudding.” Finally learned of the fire that took your ship and collections; sympathize with your “sufferings and irreparable losses” and admire your stoicism. “I [too] have] looked death in the face.” Local Indians became drunk at a public feast and “threatened to murder all the whites” (all three of us). We were obliged to keep “constant [armed] watch for two days and nights.” Had they attacked, they could have easily killed us “for they were 150 against 3.” Local scoundrel named Chagas, “with a face exactly like the back of a Surinam toad” (ie. hideously pock-marked), has been helpful in arranging river expeditions for plant collecting, but “also took a special delight in cheating me.” Currently we’re preparing for a voyage up the Casiquiare, with the intention of entering the Rio Cunucunuma; next year we’ll explore the sources of the Orinoco.

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
21 November 1863
Source of text:
Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/55
Summary:

Journey from Guayaquil, heart-attack, paralysis, general ill-health and poverty, inability to collect insects for ARW; botany, illness preventing his work on collection of mosses; bitterness at treatment by Sir William Hooker; newspaper reports on Darwin's Origin of Species, geographical distribution of species; ARW's Malayan collections; collectors in the Andes; tameness of native birds; marriage; possibility of returning to England.

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
3 January 1866
Source of text:
Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/56
Summary:

ARW's new stereoscope; Latham's failure to publish Spruce's vocabularies, Latham's bankruptcy; return of the MS to Spruce; New Year greetings to ARW and his "charmante épouse".

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
26 April 1867
Source of text:
Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/58
Summary:

Spiritualism; ARW's memoir on Malay migration; inherited deafness in cats; Paris Exposition.

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
25 September 1873
Source of text:
  • Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/111
  • Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/111
  • Natural History Museum, London: NHM WP1/3/111
Summary:

No summary available.

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
28 December 1873
Source of text:
British Library, The: BL Add. 46435 ff. 270-271
Summary:

No summary available.

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
28 July 1876
Source of text:
British Library, The: BL Add. 46435 ff. 340-342
Summary:

No summary available.

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Richard Spruce
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
24 February 1879
Source of text:
British Library, The: BL Add. 46436 ff. 13-15
Summary:

No summary available.

Contributor:
Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project