Creator
H[enr]y Edwards
Recipient
[John Muir]
Transcription
[4]
it was [sermoned?] you were about to get out your papers on the Sierra in book form . You ought to do so, in p[illegible] to your own labor. I am now settled in N. York, & at the best & f[illegible] theatre in America. I am comfortably fixed, & we have a pleasant home, where I need not say you will ever be most welcome. Mi[illegible] sends her best love to you both, & with all good wishes, Believe me, always your devoted friend
[illegible] Edwards.
Jno Muir.
00957
[1]
[Wallack’s?] Theatre. New York. Nov 4. 1880
My Dear friend –
By a paragraph in the N.Y. Evening Post (Bryant’s old paper) of the 3rd of this month, I find you have gone to Alaska, & that you are writing some charming papers to the [So.?] Bulletin as to your doings & seeings in that strange & unknown land. I take so much interest in all that you do, & follow you usually with such a close [regard?], that I blame myself for not knowing beforehand that you were about to make the journey to the “far north” of our po[illegible]. Had I done so, I should have asked you to help me, as you have so often done before; by the collection of [specimens in my own travel of Natural History study?].
[Page 2]
[2]
Except in Botany, & perhaps partially in Paleontology. Alaska is yet unknown to scientists, & as far as the insects are concerned, we are as ignorant, generally speaking, as we are of Kerguelen's Land. So, that in fact, every insect collected in any part of Alaska would carry with it a record of novelty, & bear to the entomologists in all parts of the world a message from a mysterious region. I am afraid I am too late, but if this should come to your hand before you leave the land of perpetual snow, let me beg of you to remember me as of old & collect some Lepidoptera for me. Among these flowers that [illegible] [pink?] [illegible] in the Alaskian Yosemite you will surely find much that is of great value to me, in fact, you cannot go wrong in the matter. But it is possible that this may reach you too late for anything this summer. In that case, for I know you are to go to
[3]
Alaska again, it will help to keep me in remembrance on the occasion of your second visit. We heard, though only by a sort of side wind, that you were married. I hope with all my heart that it is so, for I know you will be very happy. Your wife & yourself will always have, you may be assured, the most affectionate regard & good wishes of me & mine. I used to see Mr Emerson often while in Boston & he always inquired most kindly for you. He is breaking fast, his memory is going, but the brightness of the eye is still there, & now & then the giant intellect flashes as of old. He told me the last time I met him, viz about 2 months ago, that you were to be sure to visit him at Concord when you came East. I think there is no one whom, in his declining years, he would be more glad to see. We hoped you would have been on here before this, as
Location
New York
Date Original
1880 Nov 4
Source
Original letter dimensions: 20.5 x 25.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Edwards, Henry, "Letter from H[enr]y Edwards to [John Muir], 1880 Nov 4." (1880). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 588.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/588
Resource Identifier
muir04_0349-md-1.pdf
File Identifier
Reel 04, Image 0348
Collection Identifier
Online finding aid for the microform version of the John Muir Correspondence http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0w1031nc
Copyright Status
Copyright status unknown
Copyright Statement
Some letters written to John Muir may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Owning Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Pages
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
