Collection of letters and manuscripts. Various places (mostly Austria). Various formats: (oblong) 8vo to folio. Altogether 95 documents (56 autograph letters signed, 28 autograph postcards signed and 11 autograph manuscripts, mostly signed). Enclosed: one dried plant, one microphotograph, and one obituary.
$ 3,738 / 3.500 €
(82523/BN53677)
Extensive collection of writings, containing correspondence between the most eminent Austrian botanists and zoologists of their time. Most of the scientific correspondence is addressed to Karl Rechinger (1867-1952), curator of the botanical department at Vienna's Natural History Museum, but also to other officials of the museum, such as the zoologist Friedrich Siebenrock (1853-1925) and the botanist Alexander Zahlbruckner (1860-1938). Among the recipients of letters are Eugen von Halácsy (1842-1913), Julius Steiner (1840-1918), and Theodor Pintner (1857-1942).
- The letters comprise various requests, for example concerning loans from the museum for study purposes or information from the archive. Some correspondents have more personal requests, such as the botanist Ignaz Dörfler (1866-1950), who was dismissed from the botany department in 1895 due to a conflict with Günther Beck von Mannagetta-Lerchenau, after which he began trading herbary species from all over the world. He asks Rechinger to give him his copy of "Ritter's Lexikon", because he needs to "consult it almost daily, but I really do not have the 20 guilders [...] If you decide to give me the book, I will give you my single specimen of the Koniga Pyrenaica, which I obtained only after many years of trying […]" (letter of 7 Dec. 1898). The collection comprises some interesting manuscripts, for example detailed descriptions of various species of Thymus, including Thymus thracicus, Thymus rechingeri, Thymus longidens, Thymus moesiacus, Thymus cilicicus, etc. by Karl Ronninger (1871-1954), and an identification table of the wild species of Gentiana by Louis Keller (1850-1915). The palaeobotanist Bruno Kubart (1882-1959) attached a microphotograph of a fossilized fern to his letter to Rechinger from 23 Sept. 1908. - Includes letters and manuscripts by: Ludwig Ganglbauer (2), Ernst Kernstock (8), Karl Frühwirth (2), Rudolf Scharfetter (1), Bruno Kubart (3), Hans Rebel (10), Friedrich Morton (4), Josef Murr (4), Michael v. Eichenfeld (3), Ignaz Dörfler (8), Karl Aust (3), Franz Krasan (4), Karl Ronninger (13), Otto Krebs (4), Louis Keller (2), Karl v. Keissler (5), Josef Kalbrunner (2), Ludwig Heufler v. Hohenbühel (2), Karl Grobben (3), Karl Grimus v. Grimburg (2), Heinrich Braun (6), Friedrich Vierhapper jun. (6), Ludwig von Sarnthein (4). - In excellent condition..