(NATURAL HISTORY) Charles E Bendire Two letters from one of

Sale 2600 - Lot 169

Price Realized: $ 750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(NATURAL HISTORY.) Charles E. Bendire. Two letters from one of America's leading egg collectors. Pair of Autograph Letters Signed to W.A. Stearns, 2 and 3 pages (8 x 5 inches) on folding sheets; minor wear, a few recipient's notes and docketing. With full transcripts. Camp near Tucson, AZ, 1872

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Charles Emil Bendire (1836-1897) was a United States Army officer by trade, but an oologist by passion--a collector of bird's eggs. His postings in the American West, though hazardous, allowed him to obtain many rare specimens. In one legendary incident, he was climbing a tree to take a zone-tailed hawk egg when an Apache scout opened fire on him. He placed the egg in his mouth for safe-keeping and rushed back to the fort. He later retired as a major, donated his collection to the Smithsonian Institution and served as curator of its egg collection, and he wrote the popular "Life Histories of North American Birds with Special Reference to Their Breeding Habits and Eggs."

Offered here are two letters which Bendire wrote to a fellow collector, Winfrid Alden Stearns (1852-1909), later the author of "New England Bird Life, being a Manual of New England Ornithology." The letters were written while stationed as a lieutenant with the 1st United States Cavalry near Tucson, AZ, the same year as his famous Apache incident. On 27 June 1872, he boasts of "quite a number of duplicate sets of eggs all collected on the Pacific coast. . . . My collection numbers over 5000 specimens. . . . Of Arizona eggs, I have quite a number which are very rare. . . . There are eggs among this lot that you must not expect to get unless you can outbid the Smithsonian." His 25 October 1872 letter is mainly concerned with packing and preservation advice.