Letter 1757

Petiver describes his trip to Leiden and experience at the auction. There was a bird-of-paradise specimen he had to buy for its rarity. Alexander Stuart sends his regards to Sloane. Petiver includes a table indicating what was sold at auction, the price of each item, and what he purchased. James Petiver was a botanist and entomologist who worked in England. He traveled little, getting his specimens locally or from contacts. He traveled to Leiden on behalf of Sloane to the auction of Paul Hermann’s collection in 1711 (D. E. Allen, Petiver, James (c.16651718), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22041, accessed 8 June 2011]).