# - Italian Geographical Society.

by African, Polar and Far Eastern explorers, scientists, politicians, scholars, linguists, archaeologists, Orientalists, ornithologists, anthropologists, administrators, missionaries and others involved in geographical work, including several long series by Cesare Correnti, Alessandro Fè, Massimo d'Azeglio, Carl Arendts, Richard Henry Major, Padre Paolo Abbona, Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, Theodor von Heuglin, August Petermann, Gerhard Rohlfs, Karl Weyprecht and Julius von Payer; written mostly in Italian, German or English and from various countries in Europe, Africa, South America, Australia, India, China, Japan and the Far East, most letters annotated at head by Negri with the name of his correspondent, some letters originally addressed to colleagues of Negri (including Petermann and Friedrich von Mueller) and forwarded on to him, with a few drafts and notes by Negri, chiefly 1860-1890, some fraying, creasing and staining, some tearing (with occasional minor loss) 

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

As founder and President of the Italian Geographical Society, Cristoforo Negri (1809-1896) was at the heart of the revival of Italian geographical enterprise from the 1860s onwards. Having originally devoted his studies to law, holding the post of Professor of Political Science at Padua until the 1848 Revolution and then becoming Rector of the University of Turin, he took on a more active diplomatic role as chief of the Consular Department in the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gaining a solid international reputation during his visits to other European countries including Russia. His studies had also incorporated geography (he studied the subject at Vienna and lectured on statistics at Padua) and as early as 1840 he had corresponded with the geographer Annibale Ranuzzi about the need to reawaken Italy's interest in geographical endeavour. It was only after the country was progressing towards unification and less turbulent political times that Negri established the Italian Geographical Society in 1866. Negri was particularly anxious to secure the cooperation of those Italian travellers who had hitherto embarked on geographical research under foreign auspices, and to encourage Italian involvement in major expeditions worldwide.

By 1870 the Society consisted of over 1200 members, and its annual 'Bolletino' contained reports of Italian travellers and geographers as well as correspondence and articles about almost all the subjects engaging the interest of geographers throughout the world. Negri's work was encouraged by such luminaries as Sir Roderick Murchison, his counterpart until 1871 at the Royal Geographical Society, of which Negri was Honorary Corresponding Member. From 1872, the presidency was taken over by the politician Cesare Correnti (see his letters below), but Negri continued to enjoy the title of Perpetual President until his death, his main function being to conduct the Society's foreign correspondence, as evidenced by the present collection.

The concerns of the Italian Geographical Society extended from reports on Italian emigration to the plains of the River Plate to the funding of Polar exploration and geographical and botanical expeditions to Central and South Africa, New Guinea and Malaysia. It was through Negri's influence that Eugenio Parent of the Italian navy was attached to the Swedish Arctic expedition of 1872 and Giacomo Bove to Nordenskjöld's expedition in search of the North-East passage.

The present collection of letters reflects how closely Negri followed the achievements of the travellers, geographers, scientists and missionaries engaged in promoting Italian exploration, trade and political influence throughout all continents. Moreover, it covers most aspects of geographical endeavour undertaken during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Some of the numerous subjects discussed include the maintenance of Italian influence in the Far East (see below for a series by the missionary Abbona) and in African colonisation, the progress of Polar exploration, relations between geographical societies in Europe, the publication of reports, articles, books and maps, the projection of the Panama Canal, geographical conferences, meteorology, and zoological and botanical investigations. Negri's correspondents were based not only in Europe, but also in North, Central and South America, Central and North Africa, Australia, China, Japan and the Far East, India and the Arctic. German geographers and explorers are especially well represented (Negri himself was for a time Italian Consul General at Hamburg and served as Italian representative at the Berlin Colonial Conference of 1884-85). The most notable series include:

i) c.80 letters and cards by Cesare Correnti (Negri's successor as President of the Italian Geographical Society), discussing the Society, expeditions to Africa, Italian colonies, financial matters and Padre Abbona (see below); some letters on printed stationery of the Ministero della Istruzione Pubblica and of the Società Geografica Italiana, chiefly Rome and Florence, 1863-84

ii) c.25 letters by the statesman, writer and painter Massimo d'Azeglio (1798-1866), some of them written as head of the government in Turin, emphasising his patriotism, describing a festive celebration with cannons and fireworks, which he hopes will put an end to accusations that he leans towards Austria over Italy, merely because he does not want Rome to be the capital; he also discusses consular business in Constantinople, Lisbon and Aleppo, the trial of Sig Moro (who had been caught stealing), a family wedding, his painting, and his ill health, Turin and Cannero, 1850-65

"...La sera del due giugno, ho eseguito una brillante illuminazione, proclamata a chi non l'avesse avvertita da replicati colpi di cannone: ciò serve a smentire le accuse di chi dice che non amando io Roma per capitale, è segno che non amo più l'Italia, ed ho invece dedicato i miei affetti all'Austria..."

iii) over 25 letters by the German geographer Carl Arendts (1815-1881), founder in 1869 of the Munich Geographical Society, discussing his Society, travels, publications (including his revised edition of Balbi's Allgemeine Erdbeschreibung, 1873), various expeditions (including Koldewey's dramatic Arctic expedition of 1869), and other scholars and explorers including Theodor von Heuglin, Giacomo Bove and Nordenskjöld, 1869-80

"...Am 3. des gegenwärtigen Monats wurde ich aber durch ein Telegramm von Petermann überrascht, worin er mir mittleilt, dass ein Brief von Koldewey an mich eingetroffen ist. Am nächsten Tag empfing ich den Brief Koldeweys selbst, der an Niemanden sonst aus dem Eismeere geschrieben hatte, mir aber von den fatalen Eisverhältnissen des heurigen Fahres, von seinem herzlichen Schiffe, von seinem und der Begleiter Befinden...Schilderungen machte..."

iv) c.50 letters by Gerhard Rohlfs, in German and French, some of them written from Africa, including two during his crossing of the Libyan Desert, 1869-79

"...Ich sende Ihnen diesen Brief von unserem westlichsten Punkt den wir bis jetzt erreicht haben sechs Tagemärsche von Dachel der westlichen Oase Egyptens. Wir liegen vor einer ungeheuren Düne hinter der sich ein drei oder vier Tagemärsche breites Sandmeer ausdehnt das wir mit unseren Kamelen nicht bewältigen können. Daher werden wir morgen oder übermorgen, wenn neues Wasser und Kamelfutter eingetroffen ist, uns nach Nordwesten richten um so tiefer noch in die libysche Wüste einzudringen..."

v) c.15 letters by Padre Paolo Abbona (1806-1874), discussing his missionary work in Mandalay, the English government in India and the imperial authorities in Burma, including a 12-page report, chiefly Mandalay, 1863-73

vi) c.15 letters by Alessandro Fè, Italian minister to Japan, about missions in China and Japan, complaining that French is the lingua franca among missionaries and that Italians are often effectively sidelined, Yokohama, Tokyo, Peking and Shanghai, 1871-86

vii) 20 letters by the Italian statesman Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, including letters of recommendation, discussing consular and financial problems and members of the Geographical Society, chiefly Rome, 1881-84

viii) 18 letters by the explorer and ornithologist Theodor von Heuglin, referring to his work in North East Africa and the publication of his work on the ornithology of East Africa, chiefly Stuttgart, 1872-75

ix) c.25 letters by August Petermann, almost entirely about Polar exploration, 1868-77

Other important correspondents include: Sir Roderick Murchison; H.W. Bates (1870, referring to Sir Roderick's illness and the election of Sir Andrew Scott Waugh as Honorary Member of the Italian Geographical Society); Adolf Bastian; the meteorologist C.H.D. Buys Ballot (about magnetism, 1881); the botanist Franz Georg Philipp Buchenau; Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1870s, referring to his archaeological finds in Cyprus); the Hungarian mountaineer M. de Déchy (about photographs taken in the Sikkim Himalaya, his ascent of mountains in the Italian Alps and services to Italy); C.G. Ehrenberg; the geographer and hydrographer Alexander George Findlay; John and Alexander Forrest; Francis Garnier; Joseph Hooker (on his election as Honorary Member, 1870); Felix Kanitz; Gustave Lambert (asking for the Società's assistance for his planned expedition to the North Pole, with appended reply initialled by Negri, 1870); Baron Heinrich von Maltzan (1871-2); Clements Markham (one letter, 1872); Karl Weyprecht and Julius von Payer (1870s, about their North Pole Expedition of 1872-74, including two letters by von Payer written while on the expedition); Eugenio Parent; Giacomo Bove; the geographer Richard Henry Major (c.30 letters, 1873-83); and James Augustus Grant, (6 letters, 1865-76), who wrote of Speke:

"...The name of Speke is very dear to me -- it can scarcely be mentioned without causing me to feel emotion -- no man ever lived who was more honorable or more gentle and brave...His character too was untarnished and his geography as far as he had the means of observing, will, I vouch for it -- will be found as true as his word -- of the extent of his Lake Nyanza, he has given to the world the opinion he had deliberately formed from a constant enquiry from the inhabitants. He it was who placed the Albert Nyanza in its present position, the Nile merely touching it, and he did so from the interrogations he made upon the spot -- as far as we yet know from Colonel Gordon's expedition, Speke's position of the Nile leaving the Albert Lake has been confirmed..." (21 July 1875)

A list of most of the correspondents is available -- please contact the Book Department.