WCP2235

Letter (WCP2235.2125)

[1]1

Vienna

25/12 1869

My dear Sir,

I am most cordially indebted for the gladsome surprise you have kindly prepared me in giving me as [a] christmas [sic] box your wonderful book the Malay Archipelago2. My son3 and my whole family were not less rejoiced[.] So can adorn the christmas tree with such an extraordinary gift presented so pleasantly by the Author himself. The interest we have for your work is indeed very highly and you will find it natural, when I tell you that the poor Dr. Doleschall4 you mention in your book at Amboyne [Ambon]5 was once the teacher of my son Rudolf, and long time well received in my family. Myself I had the intention [in] 1857 [57 written over 60] to pay a visit to him at Amboyne, but I was informed that he was deadly sick, and 1860, as I renewed the plan of the journey, our political aera [sic] began in Austria,6 and since I am [2] fettered[?] [at] home.

You can imagine the interest, with wich [sic] I read your experiences in the same countries [and] the notices concerning natural history. I was an ardent reader of your Travels on the Amazon & the Rio negro [sic] and it will be an enjoiment [sic] for my scanty leisure hours to follow you by lecture in the Malay Archipelago.

I regret only that I am in this moment incapable to return in any way your Kindness. Our Lepidoptera (2nd volume the Heterocera) proceed very slowly, though my son is very diligent, devoting all his free time to the purpose. Presently the Geometridae are in the hands of the engraver and I hope that the next year the work should be intirely [sic] concluded.7, 8 All the new species you kindly communicated to us, are described in it, and it will be satisfaction for me to dedicate you a good coloured copy so soon As[?] possible.

[3] I am besides very obliged for your for your Kindess with which you assist my son in his entomological pursuits, and he takes pride in this correspondence.

Reiterating my sincere thanks and offering my best wishes for the next year[?].

I am very faithfully | Yours | C[?] Felder [signature]

Mr Alfred R. Wallace

9. St Marcs [sic] Cresient [sic] Regentspark [sic]

London, N. W.

1
Page 1 is numbered page 152 by the repository. Every second subsequent page has a consecutive handwritten number written in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
2
Wallace, A. R. 1869. The Malay Archipelago; the Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise, 2 vols. London, UK: Macmillan.
3
Felder, Rudolf (1842-1871). Austrian jurist and entomologist (specialising in Lepidoptera). Son of Baron Cajetan von Felder.
4
Doleschall, Carl Ludwig (1827-1859). Austro-Hungarian physician and entomologist.
5
Amboyne [Ambon] is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, SE Asia, in the Pacific Ocean area formerly referred to as the Malay Archipelago.
6
Probably a reference to the "Seven Weeks' War" between German confederates Austria and Prussia, June-July 1866. See WCP655.827, ARW to C. Felder, 26 Oct. 1865. (Wikipedia. Austro-Prussian War. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Prussian_War> [accessed 8 Apr. 2020]).
7
Felder, C., Felder, R. & Rogenhofer, A. F. 1864-1875. Reise der österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf Urbair. Zoologischer Theil. Zweiter Band. Zweite Abtheilung: Lepidoptera. Atlas. Wien: Carl Gerold's Sohn.
8
Heterocera is a general term for all moths, (as opposed to Rhopalocera, butterflies; both groups are in the Order Lepidoptera). Geometridae are a family of Moths.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP2235.2125)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Kodra, Ina [2018-08-15] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2020-06-09]

Please cite as “WCP2235,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2235