WCP5686

Letter (WCP5686.6539)

[1]1

The Dell, Grays, Essex

Feby. 28th. 1873

Private

Dear Sharpe

I have pretty nearly determined to part with my private collection of Malayan birds, as I cannot do any thing with them being obliged to give what time I can work in doors[?] [indoors][?] to literary work that pays. Ornithology is for me a luxury I can't afford. If I find a purchaser the only fair way to settle a price is for each to appoint a valuer to go over the collection. Will you undertake to value for me if required? I presume you could obtain leave of [2] absence for a couple of days & of course you would have a reasonable fee.

Do you think Lord Walden2 would take them & give the price for them? You can judge by the Kingfisher how rich the whole collection is.

I estimate roughly about 1000 sp[ecies]. and 3000 specimens, — but there may be more or less.

Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

1
Written at the top left of the page in an unidentified hand is "Wallace".
2
Probably Hay, Arthur (1824-1878). British. Army officer and ornithologist. Ninth marquess of Tweeddale, Scotland. Known before 1862 as Lord Arthur Hay and between 1862 and 1876 as Viscount Walden.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP5686.6539)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Benny, Ruth [2014-09-15] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2014-09-15] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2022-07-19]

Please cite as “WCP5686,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5686