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Maître Jean-Paul RENOUD-GRAPPIN

34 - Victor CONSIDERANT (1808–1893).
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Estimate €300 - €400
Sale commission
Description
Victor CONSIDERANT (1808–1893). Autograph letter (draft), [1871], to the Minister of Public Instruction; 3 folio pages. Draft with crossings-out and corrections, originally addressed to Eugène Pelletan (who served briefly as Minister from 31 January to 4 February 1871), then to the Minister of Public Instruction, requesting ‘the reinstatement of the Chair of Botany at the Jardin des Plantes, which was abolished upon the death of Adrien de Jussieu’. He begins by explaining that ‘Botany has become a very broad science and one of the utmost importance for the discovery of the fundamental phenomena and laws of life’. It is divided into two branches: one devoted to anatomy and physiology, the other to ‘the history of plant families’. A single professor is responsible for teaching both these branches and cannot cope with the workload, whereas zoology has five professors… He regrets that scholars have often been appointed who are “frequently incapable of teaching”… He then extols the merits of Arthur GRIS (1829–1872), “for a long time merely an assistant naturalist”, who deserves a chair, for which he possesses all the necessary qualities—a fact that can be confirmed by scholars such as Brongniart, Sainte-Claire Deville Tulasne, etc. He follows his signature with the notes: ‘former French national, born in Salins, Department of the Jura’ [he had returned to France in 1869, after a long exile in America]…
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About the sale AUTOGRAPHS & MANUSCRIPTS – PENNED BY HISTORY’S GREAT FIGURES
Auction location
Auction time 09/18/2026 at 2:00 PM
Ref. : 226165 - 27
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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