An autograph letter signed to Herbert James Carter, dated 5 April 1917, in relation to contributions to the 'Australian Encyclopaedia'
Octavo, two pages (the outer surfaces of a bifolium) on the letterhead of the 'Public Library, Museums, and National Gallery of Victoria | The National Museum'.
Folded twice horizontally for posting; a few creases; scattered light foxing; in excellent condition.
Spencer writes: 'Dear Mr Carter, I have written to Mr Baracchi telling him that you are anxious to see him & giving him your address. As it is Easter time & he is a free man it is just possible that he may be going out of town. You have got a most excellent man in Steele [sic] - I don't think he has worked much at Annulates but anything he does will be thoroughly well done. Flynn I think will do the Mammals well - at all events he has the knowledge - but I do not know whether he can write in a semi-scientific style. With all good wishes for the success of your work. Yours very sincerely, W. Baldwin Spencer'. 'This Encyclopaedia was first projected in 1912 as a historical and biographical record ... and much material had been collected when the outbreak of war in 1914 temporarily halted its progress. In 1917 work was resumed, and it was decided to include articles on scientific subjects also. For this section of the work we were fortunate to obtain the services of Mr Herbert J. Carter ... who was able to secure the co-operation of the leading men of science in Australia' (from the preface to the 1925 first edition). Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer (1860-1929), 'university scientist and administrator, anthropologist and connoisseur' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography') was honorary director of the National Museum of Victoria from 1899 and, with William Ramsay Smith, contributed much of the entry on Australian Aboriginal people; Thomas Steel contributed the entry on the genus Periptatus (and has his own posthumous entry in Volume II); and T. Thomson Flynn (zoologist and father of the better-known Errol) appears not to have made a contribution.
Item #63246
Price (AUD):
$400.00