DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). Autograph letter signed ('Ch. Darwin') to an unidentified correspondent ('Dear Sir') [?Otto Kratz], Down, 8 September [?1871], 2 pages, 8vo (split at folds); [ with ] carte-de-visite portrait photograph signed ('Ch. Darwin'), 105 x 63mm, the photograph by Dr Wallich, Kensington (faded); [ and ] three related carte-de-visite photographs by S. Moses & Son, New Orleans, showing abnormally hairy people; and an envelope inscribed 'Darwin Brief'. DARWIN AND THE HAIRY PEOPLE. Darwin writes with thanks for a letter and for 'the curious photographs. I had heard of a family of hairy person [ sic ] at the Burmese court, & have given full details about them in my work (vol.2) on the Variation of Animals & Plants under Domestication'; Darwin suggests that his correspondent's photographs depict the same family, '& it is an exaggeration that a race is thus characterised'; Darwin encloses his own signed portrait photograph as a 'very poor return' for the favour. The New Orleans provenance of the photographs indicates that Darwin's letter is a reply to one recorded by The Darwin Correspondence from Otto Kratz in that city, 12 July 1871, sending photographs of this subject and suggesting that those depicted are the 'missing link'. In 1877 Darwin exchanged letters with K.T.E. von Siebold on the same subject, which evidently appealed to German zoologists. (5)
DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). Autograph letter signed ('Ch. Darwin') to an unidentified correspondent ('Dear Sir') [?Otto Kratz], Down, 8 September [?1871], 2 pages, 8vo (split at folds); [ with ] carte-de-visite portrait photograph signed ('Ch. Darwin'), 105 x 63mm, the photograph by Dr Wallich, Kensington (faded); [ and ] three related carte-de-visite photographs by S. Moses & Son, New Orleans, showing abnormally hairy people; and an envelope inscribed 'Darwin Brief'. DARWIN AND THE HAIRY PEOPLE. Darwin writes with thanks for a letter and for 'the curious photographs. I had heard of a family of hairy person [ sic ] at the Burmese court, & have given full details about them in my work (vol.2) on the Variation of Animals & Plants under Domestication'; Darwin suggests that his correspondent's photographs depict the same family, '& it is an exaggeration that a race is thus characterised'; Darwin encloses his own signed portrait photograph as a 'very poor return' for the favour. The New Orleans provenance of the photographs indicates that Darwin's letter is a reply to one recorded by The Darwin Correspondence from Otto Kratz in that city, 12 July 1871, sending photographs of this subject and suggesting that those depicted are the 'missing link'. In 1877 Darwin exchanged letters with K.T.E. von Siebold on the same subject, which evidently appealed to German zoologists. (5)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
