Ɛpsilon

WCP1433

Postcard (WCP1433.4233)

[1]1

Broadstone, Wimborne

Aug. 23rd.1904

Please give me Mr. John Burns'2 address. I want some of Owen's3 works not in the Lond library. I go even further & consider Owen one of the best as well as one of the greatest men of the 19th Cent, an almost ideally perfect character but too far in advance of his time. He was my first introducer to mental philosophy & social reform. I heard him speak once.

A. R. W.

1
. This letter was addressed to Cockerell, Sydney Carlyle (1867-1962). British bibliophile and collector of medieval manuscripts. Celebrated Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 1909-1937.
2

Burns, John Elliott (1858-1943). Labour leader and politician. ODNB. His collection of books includes works on and by Robert Owen and is now held in Senate House Library, University of London.

https://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections/special-collections/printed-special-collections/burns [accessed 30 May 2018]

3
Owen, Robert (1771-1858). British socialist and philanthropist.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Postcard (WCP1433.4233)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Bevan, Deniz [2013-06-04]

Transcription (WCP1433.1212)

[1]

(Copy letter from A. R. Wallace to S. C. Cockerell.1)

Broadstone, Wimborne.

August 23, 1904.

Please give me Mr. John Burns's2 address. I want some of Owen's3 works not in the London Library. I go even further and consider Owen one of the best as well as one of the greatest men of the 19th Century, an almost ideally pefect character but too far in advance of his time. He was my first introducer to mental philosophy and social reform. I heard him speak once.

1
. Cockerell, Sydney Carlyle (1867-1962). British bibliophile and collector of medieval manuscripts. Celebrated Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 1909-1937.
2

Burns, John Elliott (1858-1943). Labour leader and politician. ODNB. His collection of books includes works on and by Robert Owen and is now held in Senate House Library, University of London.

https://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections/special-collections/printed-special-collections/burns [accessed 30 May 2018]

3
Owen, Robert (1771-1858). British socialist and philanthropist.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP1433.1212)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2018-08-15]

Transcription (WCP1433.4232)

[1]

Broadstone,

Wimborne,1

Aug. 23rd 1904

2

Please give me Mr. John Burns'3 address. I want some of Owen's4 works not in the London Library.5 I go even further and consider Owen one of the best as well as one of the greatest men of the 19th centurey [sic], an almost ideally perfect character, but too far in advance of his time. He was my first introducer to mental philosophy and social reform. I heard him speak once.6

signed A.R.W.

1
Old Orchard, Broadstone, Dorset. Wallace lived here from 1902 until his death in 1913. The Alfred Russel Wallace Page http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/index1.htm
2
There is no salutation, but the letter is a copy of one from Wallace to Sydney Cockerell. See WCP1433_L1212. Cockerell, Sir Sydney Carlyle (1867-1962). Museum director and book collector. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
3

Burns, John Elliott (1858-1943). Labour leader and politician. ODNB. His collection of books includes works on and by Robert Owen and is now held in Senate House Library, University of London.

https://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections/special-collections/printed-special-collections/burns [accessed 30 May 2018]

4
Owen, Robert (1771-1858). Socialist and philanthropist. ODNB
5
The London Library, founded in 1841 by Thomas Carlyle, is one of the world's largest lending libraries. www.londonlibrary.co.uk
6
Probably in London in 1837. Claeys, Gregory. 2008. Wallace and Owenism. 235-262. In: Smith, C. & Beccaloni, G. W. (Eds). Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. [p. 242]

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP1433.4232)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2018-08-15]

Transcription (WCP1433.4234)

[1]1

Broadstone, Wimborne.2

Aug 23. 1904

3

Please give me Mr John Burns's4 address. I want some of Owen's5 works not in the London Library.6 I go even further and consider Owen one of the best as well as one of the greatest men of the 19th century, an almost ideally perfect character but too far in advance of his time. He was my first introducer to mental philosophy and social reform. I heard him speak once.7

1
The following comment is written in the same hand in the right hand margin of the letter, adjacent to the line refering to John Burns. "John Burns wrote to me (Aug 25) that he had sent ARW. Vol 1A of Owen's Life." Robert Owen's autobiography consists of volumes 1 and 1A. There is no volume 2. http://robert-owen-museum.org.uk/node/8 [accessed 1 June 2018]
2
Old Orchard, Broadstone, Dorset. Wallace lived here from 1902 until his death in 1913. The Alfred Russel Wallace Page http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/index1.htm
3
There is no salutation, but the letter is a copy of one from Wallace to Sydney Cockerell. See WCP1433_L1212. Cockerell, Sir Sydney Carlyle (1867-1962). Museum director and book collector. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
4

Burns, John Elliott (1858-1943). Labour leader and politician. ODNB. His collection of books includes works on and by Robert Owen and is now held in Senate House Library, University of London.

https://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections/special-collections/printed-special-collections/burns [accessed 30 May 2018]

5
Owen, Robert (1771-1858). Socialist and philanthropist. ODNB
6
The London Library, founded in 1841 by Thomas Carlyle, is one of the world's largest lending libraries. www.londonlibrary.co.uk
7
Probably in London in 1837. Claeys, Gregory. 2008. Wallace and Owenism. 235-262. In: Smith, C. & Beccaloni, G. W. (Eds). Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. [p. 242]

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP1433.4234)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2018-08-15]

Published letter (WCP1433.5477)

[1]1 [p. 210]

Broadstone, Wimborne

Aug. 23rd, 1904

Please give me Mr. John Burns' address. I want some of Owen's works not in the London Library. I go even further and consider Owen one of the best as well as one of the greatest men of the 19th century, an almost ideally perfect character, but too far in advance of his time. He was my first introducer to mental philosophy and social reform. I heard him speak once.

A. R. W.

1
Editor Charles H. Smith's Note: Second of four letters from the period 1904-1906, printed in Cockerell's Friends of a Lifetime; Letters to Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, edited by Viola Meynell and published in 1940.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1433.5477)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Smith, Charles Hyde [2013-02-06] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-02-08]

Please cite as “WCP1433,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1433