WCP4018

Letter (WCP4018.3961)

[1]

9. St. Mark's Crescent N.W.

March 10th [1867].1

Dear Newton

I must decline to undertake the Lep[idoptera]. volume2 or any other, for many reasons. I don’t like the kind of work, and I don’t want to tie myself (by beginning such a job) from doing anything else that may turn up, or that I may like better. Half the time & labour it would take would write my travels3, & I think pay me better & get me more credit besides being, of the two, more agreeable.

The only man I know who would be likely to do it for you is [2]3 F[rederic]. Moore,3 of the India House Mus[eum][.]4 He has described lots of Indian moths, & has a collection, — and is a steady working fellow who will if he is [to] undertake it, do the work pretty well.

If you should hear of any good Curatorship or Nat[ural]. Hist[ory]. Secretaryship vacant, please remember me. If sufficiently good & permanent I would give all my private collections to a local museum.

Schlegel’s5 paper is not yet at the Zoological6.

Yours very sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace — [signature]

A[lfred]. Newton Esq.

1
The date is established by Newton's annotation on page 2.
2
Newton had asked ARW to collaborate on his Lepidoptera volume in the Zooloogical Record series. See Alfred Newton to ARW, 4 March 1867 (WCP2080.1970).
3
Moore, Frederic (1830-1907). British entomologist; Assistant at the East India Company Museum 1848-79; Assistant Curator at the East India Company Museum from 1879. (Schintlmeister, A. 2008 Notodontidae. Denmark: Apollo Books. p.417.).
4
The India Museum of London was established in 1801 as the Oriental Repository of East India House, Leadenhall Street, London and was maintained by the East India Company until 1858. In 1861 the India Museum temporarily relocated to Fife House at Whitehall until 1868 when the India Office terminated its occupancy. The museum subsequently reopened at the India Office in 1869 and was relocated again in 1875 at rooms rented from the South Kesington Museum. In 1879 the India Museum was dissolved and its collection was dispersed. (Desmond R. 1982. The India Musuem 1801-1879. London: HMSO.)
5
Schlegel, Hermann (1804-1884). German ornithologist and herpetologist.
6
The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 with Stamford Raffles as its president and Nicholas Aylward Vigors as secretary. The main goals of the society were the establishment of a zoological garden and museum, the organisation of scientific meetings and the publication of a specialist journal. (Ito, T. 2014. London Zoo and the Victorians, 1828-1859. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. p.23).

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4018.3961)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Ulguim, Priscilla Ferreira [2012-11-07] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2020-06-10]

Please cite as “WCP4018,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4018