WCP6093

Letter (WCP6093.7045)

[1]1

British Museum (Natural History)

Cromwell Road,

London, S.W.7.

10th November 1949.

49/890

Dear Sir,

In answer to your letter of November 6th, I am sorry to inform you that we have no catalogues dealing with the prices of bird specimens on sale. Sometime ago I had two of Rosenberg’s2 catalogues, but I regret they have both disappeared.

If you want to sell the specimens3 it might be worth your while to incert [sic] an advertisement in the Museums Journal4 which appears periodically, and is seen by most of the larger Museums. The address of the Journal is: —

Chaucer House,

Malet Place,

W.C.1.

Yours faithfully, | H. Bench Usher [signature]

H. Bench Usher,

Bird Section.

W.G. Wallace, Esq[uire].,

61 East Avenue,

Bournemouth.

Ack[nowledge]d Nov[ember]. 14 19495

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 to the left. The page is numbered [WP16/4/1] in pencil in the top RH corner.

2.

2
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.
3
During his expedition to the Malay Archipelago 1854-1862, ARW observed five different species of birds of paradise (family Paradisaeidae), which are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The recipient’s other attempts to sell the skins are documented elsewhere (see WCP6092, 6094, 6096 and 6097).
4

Monthly magazine published by the Museums Association, founded in 1901. It is a leading source of news and information for museums, galleries, heritage sites and historic houses.

6.

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

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP6093.7045)]

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 “WCP6093,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 1 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6093