WCP6092

Letter (WCP6092.7044)

[1]1

British Museum (Natural History)

Cromwell Road,

London, S.W.7.

28th September 1949.

HWP/BMS.

Dear Col[onel]. Fraser,

Kinnear2 has passed me your letter of September, 20th. I have enquired about these birds of paradise3 and find that the species are adequately represented in our collections and that they are for the most part of Wallace’s collecting. The material that you mention therefore would be of little importance and value to us. I am afraid we cannot hazard a guess as to what the value of the skins would be in the open market.

It is suggested however that a dealer such as W. F. H. Rosenberg4 may be prepared to make an offer for it.

Yours sincerely, | H W Parker [signature]

Col[onel]. C. F. Fraser,

55, Glenferness Avenue,

Winton,

Bournemouth.

Nov[ember]. 6 Wrote asking loan of dealer’s price list.5

1

The letter is typewritten on headed notepaper with the Royal Seal at the top centre of the page and that of the National Scheme for Disabled Men positioned below it to the left. The page is numbered [WP16/4/1] in pencil in the top RH corner.

2.

2
Kinnear, Norman Boyd (1882-1957) Scottish zoologist and ornithologist. He was appointed Assistant in the Department of Zoology at the Natural History Museum in1920, Keeper of Zoology in 1945 and Director of the Museum in 1947.
3
During his expedition to the Malay Archipelago 1854-1862, ARW observed five different species of birds of paradise, which are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family Paradisaeidae has 42 species in 14 genera.
4

Rosenberg, William Frederick Henry (1868-1957) English ornithologist and entomologist. He sold bird collections from an 1894 expedition to Colombia to Adolphe Boucard and in 1896 to Walter Rothschild. He employed collectors in South America who provided him with bird skins for Rothschild 1898-1899. Duplicates went to the British Museum and surplus specimens were sold to other collectors and museums. He started a business as a natural history dealer in Tring in 1897 and in 1898 he moved the dealership to Hampstead, London.

6.

5
Annotation in ink across the bottom RH corner of the page.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP6092.7044)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP6092,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6092