Lot 71
Dated at Soho Square, London, 7 August, 1798
A letter to an unnamed addressee, apparently John Fleming, beginning: 'Sir, I beg you to accept my best thanks for your obliging intentions towards me in forwarding by […?] a living musk animal. I am writing to inform you that your obliging good wishes have been disappointed by the death of the animal which is a grievous loss to Natural History as I am certain that hitherto no animal of the species has been brought to England.'
After reporting the circumstances of the death ('Mr Brown tells me that it died in a fit being in perfect heath a few minutes before …' and that the deer had been in good care before that), Banks relates that 'in consequence of this care we have learned from it a curious fact in comparative anatomy. The position of the penis of this animal respecting its musk bag which it appears to perforate but really does not[?]'.
After further comments on this specimen, Banks refers to an antelope previously supplied by the addressee having 'shared the same fate' but thanks him for his endeavours and the opportunities these afford Banks ('I feel as a naturalist the pleasure of seeing it and noting the remarkable circumstances of it …'). He continues with various comments on the sharing of specimens and related knowledge and concludes with an offer of reciprocal assistance: 'I shall be happy to receive your command as I consider myself much obliged to you Sir and really am / with esteem and regard / your obedient [honourable] servant / Jos: Banks'.
Three pages on a folded sheet of gilt-edged laid paper, inscribed verso 'Sir Joseph Banks / Aug. 7. 1798 / Recd April 13th. 1799'
Inscribed in pencil in a later hand 'Addressed to John Fleming Esq.'
The sheet 23 x 38cm overall
Estimate $2,000 - $3,000
A private collection, Melbourne, formed by the vendor's father, 1950s–1970s
A fine example of the correspondence Joseph Banks maintained with fellow naturalists around the world and the procuring of specimens and exchange of knowledge this facilitated.
John Fleming (1747–1829) was a surgeon who served in the Indian Medical Service from 1768 to 1811, during which period he also pursued his keen interest in natural history, especially botany, culminating in his A Catalogue of Indian Medicinal Plants and Drugs (1810).
Fleming and Banks corresponded over many years. That Fleming was the addressee of the present lot seems confirmed by a letter from him in Calcutta to Banks dated 11 November, 1797, in which he writes that he is sending a living 'Thibetan Musk' (cited in James Britten, 'John Fleming, M.D. (1747–1829)' in The Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, vol. LIV (1916), p. 302).
Decorative Arts
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Sale: LJ8785
6:00pm - 7 July 2025
Hawthorn
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Fri 4 - Sun 6 July, 10am - 4pm
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CONTACT
Chiara Curcio
decorativearts@leonardjoel.com.au
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