Jean-Henri FABRE (1823-1915). 33 L.A.S. and one dictated let - Lot 186

Jean-Henri FABRE (1823-1915). 33 L.A.S. and one dictated letter, Avignon, Orange and Sérignan 1861-1884, to Théodore Delacour (one to Bernard Verlot); 76pages in-8, envelopes (small cracks in some letters). Important friendly and scientific correspondence to botanist Delacour. [Théodore Delacour (1831-1920), of Avignon origin, a partner in the Vilmorin-Andrieux firm, was a renowned botanist who built up an important herbarium (Muséum), for which Fabre supplied him with several specimens; and Delacour was one of the collectors for Fabre's herbarium, to whom he supplied plants and seeds for the Harmas; together they made several botanical and naturalist excursions to Mont Ventoux, including one in August 1865 with Bernard Verlot, recounted by Fabre in his Souvenirs entomologiques.] We can only give a brief outline of this interesting correspondence, as the pages are filled with Fabre's tiny handwriting. Avignon April 4, 1861. In this first letter, Fabre expresses his deep esteem and affection for Delacour, and thanks him for sending him "various objects of natural history"; he asks him about his medical studies, which he is said to have abandoned to devote himself to botany and floriculture at Madame Vilmorin's; he asks his nieces for advice on growing patchouly; he talks about their Ventoux races. He engages in "industrial chemistry research"... - January 27, 1862. Sends his book on agricultural chemistry, to "popularize in rural schools the most elementary applications of chemistry to field work"... - July 24, 1867, about their forthcoming Ventoux race. - March 12, 1868, about a shipment of pear blossoms for Bernard Verlot at the Muséum. "I'm still writing": a physics lecture and a chemistry lecture. The Siberian winter in Avignon has ravaged his plants, of which he requests several. - August 2, 1868. Warm thanks for sending a box of insects, "a source of excellent information, if only to verify my previous determinations"... Orange July 29, 1871, on botany and its "Vauclusian crusts": "Every day I have reason to convince myself how easy it is to make blunders with these so polymorphous plants"... Questions and discussion on lichens and cryptogams... - September 11, 1872, on return from a botanical expedition to the Saint-Amans plateau. - May 29, 1876, preparation for a race on the Ventoux. - August 13, about a mechanical cricri. -August 28. September 25, thanks for sending plants; he is going to write his "observations sur la flore du littoral de la mer falunienne dans nos régions". - June 5, 1877. On the illness of his son Jules, whom he would like to take to fortify himself in Rochefort-Samson (Drôme), a mountainous country whose rich flora he lists... - September 14: his "darling child" Jules is at the end of his tether [he dies the same day]. - January 23, 1878. He immersed himself in mycological works, and reviewed his collections under the microscope, "the only possible distraction in the misfortune that has befallen me". Steps taken to print the Flore générale du Vaucluse. - December 5, letter dictated to his daughter Antonia from his sickbed. - March 14, 1879. A fluxion of the chest has brought him to the brink of his end; he is spending his convalescence on cryptogamy... - March 28, thanking him for a shipment of crustaceans (crab and lobster), ornaments for the natural history cabinet that the plasterer is finishing in Sérignan... Sérignan May 28, 1879. He moves to Sérignan. - October 29. He waits for Delacour in Sérignan. - July 31, 1880. On a grass in the Sérignan woods, the praying mantis, the layout of the Sérignan garden. "The Académie has just asked me again about Phylloxera; it seems that my Souvenirs entomologiques have inspired some confidence. This will earn me a good microscope"... - October 23. He expects his friend for All Saints' Day, and will serve him sponges; study of sclerotia; layout of the garden... "The harmas is being cleared. This December, I'm going to have it planted with fruit and ornamental trees"... (List of plants given by Delacour to Fabre on October 31 attached). - March 2, 1881. "The Harmas is beginning to be furnished, and work has been going on since November. There are well-nigh 300 trees and shrubs there already," including a cedar and two redwoods that come up to his waist; he puts thyme for the borders. "I'm devouring the mountain with these green shrubs, rosemary, arbutus"... Etc. - July 8th. Heatwave: "I have a few thousand cicadas in the two plane trees outside my door. Their concert, the heat, the pesky fly, the comma hunt for my