NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2010 Oct 21 @ 17:00UTC-07:00 : PDT/MST
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Archive of 17 autograph letters signed ''C.E. Gordon'' written to Charles Button in Mahé, Seychelles, the area north of Madagascar. Written in 1881-82 when Gordon was stationed in Mauritius, off the coast of Africa, as the Commanding Royal Engineer during the reign of the British Empire. In an undated letter on stationery embossed with the British coat of arms, Gordon thanks Button ''for your kind offer of the small Tortoises. I hope you will not give any away at all. A time will come, when they will be very valuable and it is a great pity to give any of them away, they are only neglected…'' In 1881, Gordon published a report, currently housed in the British Museum, entitled ''Gigantic Land Tortoises of Seychelles,'' crediting the information to ''a very intelligent gentleman Mr. Charles Button of Providence Mahé.'' In another undated two page letter, Gordon asks Button to ''tell me about the Coco de Mers, for I am much interested – do you think they will die out. Have you got a serpent for me. If so cork the bottle well…'' The Coco de Mer is a palm tree native to the Seychelles which Gordon deemed to be the Tree of Knowledge; today, a forest of 4,000 Coco de Mer trees are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Two letters dated 1881 also mention the Coco de Mer: ''…I got your paper on the Coco de Mer…I sent your remarks onto Mr. Broome about the Coco de Mer, and he writes that he takes the greatest interest in them…'' Thirteen letters dated 1882 read in part, (5) ''…I am also glad you are looking after the Coco de Mers…Glad to hear of your success in curing Cocoa Nut tree disease…Look after the two Tortoises in the Govt Plot. Have the fruit on that tree in Govt plot…'' (6) ''I want the two or four Tortoises to be little ones and alive…'' (7) ''I asked Mr Brodie to execute some commissions for me, but I am much afraid that he is too busy…'' (8) ''I want the four little Tortoises alive not dead…I send you a little box enclosing two Brooches for Mrs. Button. One is the arms of Seychelles when it gets free of the Mauritius. [The coat of arms of the present Republic of Seychelles, with a turtle and a palm tree, is based upon a design by Gordon.] The other is the Hindoo representation of Universe. The Hindoos think that Curuman one of the incarnations of Bhudda, and which name signifies Tortoise when the flood came took the form of a Tortoise and placed the Ark on his back took it to Ararat with Noah. The Tortoise eggs take six months to hatch. The flood lasted four months so that I think the flood covered them and that when it subsided, the eggs were hatched, they never could have walked down from Ararat. You see none of these isles have much animal life on them. N.B. I forgot to ask you to get me in a bottle of Spirits one of the little snakes which are found on Praslin…'' Praslin Island was the location of the Garden of Eden, according to Gordon. (9) ''Your letter was very interesting and I hope you will keep an eye on everything connected with the Coco de Mer, especially its mode of germination…'' (10) ''I would like a short bit of Common Cocoa nut wood, as well as of the Coco de Mer wood…'' (11) ''If I do not come, keep the little Tortoises for me. I may send for them at some future time…'' (12) ''The vessel for Zanzibar which I had hoped to catch has not been able to await the coming in of mail, so that I may after all, have to come by the April mail…'' (13) ''I cannot come through Seychelles, so kindly see the things packed safely and ready to go to Adm. by the April mail…'' (14) ''You will be sick of my notes, but this will be the last…the address Col. Gordon care of Agent British India…Co. Adm…'' (15) From Cape Town, 17 June 1882: ''Let me know how you go on at Seychelles in which place I take a great interest. Better address me General Gordon RE 5 Rochester Place Southampton for there is no direct route to Cape from Seychelles…This Colony is a smart one &; there is plenty of vigour in it…'' (16) ''I am now on my way home and shall be better able to write to you than when at the Cape where the communications took such time…tell me about the Coco de Mer and anything you can think of in the way of curious things…How is the Coco de Mer in the Govt Garden at Mahé and how are the Tortoises. I hope that they are looked after. Remember you are to keep the little ones for me of the Brood which came out last October. I wish I could come and settle out at Seychelles but it is too far off and I am thinking of settling down in Palestine…'' (17) From Southampton, 25 November 1882: ''Here is a letter from Mr. Dyer who evidently considers you to be what I know you are a most valuable botanical ally…'' Drawing two clusters of buds, Gordon tells Button to ''put some of these up for me but do not send them till I write for fear they should be stolen. I am sorry I lost the small cooped backed tortoise…Write me how the two big Tortoises are, also anything new about Coco de Mer.'' On another sheet, unsigned, Gordon has listed repairs and costs of his headquarters, with sketches on verso. A truly museum-worthy archive in very good condition. Letters total 33 pages and mostly measure 4.5'' x 7''.
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