WCP6058

Letter (WCP6058.7008)

[1]1

THE LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON,

BURLINGTON HOUSE,

PICCADILLY, LONDON, W.1.

24 November 1947.

W. G. Wallace Esq[uire].,

61 East Avenue,

Bournemouth.

Dear Sir,

I thank you for your letter dated 22 November, concerning the presentation of Alfred Russel Wallace’s correspondence and M[anu]S[cript]S. to the British Museum2. I note also that you intend to present to present to this Society3 the M[anu]s[cript]. Palms of the Amazon4 [sic], with the sketches. I can assure you that this M[anu]s[cript]. will be highly prized and most carefully preserved by this Society.

You will remember that in 1936 you very kindly presented this Society with eight M[anu]S[cript]S. of Alfred Russel Wallace; four of which comprised part of the M[anu]S[cript]. of The Malay Archipelago5. These reached us through the late Sir Edward Poulton6. I may add, that during the War7 these M[anu]S[cript]S. were stored in a safe place way from London. They are now back with the rest of our M[anu]S[cript]S. Collections.

Yours faithfully, | S. Savage [signature]

Assistant Secretary.

1

The letter is typewritten and signed in ink. The page is numbered [WP16/2/35] in pencil in the top RH corner.

2.

2
Museum dedicated to human history, art and culture established in Bloomsbury, London in 1753. The first branch institution, the British Museum (Natural History) opened in South Kensington in 1881.
3
The Linnean Society was founded in 1788 for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history, and named in honour of Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist.
4
Wallace, A. R. (1853) Palm trees of the Amazon and their uses. London, John van Voorst.
5
Wallace, A. R. (1869) The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan, and the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of Travel with Studies of Man and Nature. London, Macmillan & Co.
6
Poulton, Edward Bagnall (1856-1943) British evolutionary biologist and Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford. He was a friend of ARW and lifelong advocate of natural selection.
7
World War II (1939-1945).

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP6058.7008)]

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

Revision history

Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2015-07-03] Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2018-08-15] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Please cite as “WCP6058,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6058