Autograph letter signed ("A Humboldt").
8vo. 1 p. on bifolium. With autograph address and traces of seal.
€ 1,800.00
To the sculptor Pierre-Jean David, known as David d'Angers (1788-1856), ahead of a visit to his workshop. Humboldt assumes that an earlier letter had not reached David and kindly asks for an appointment, as he is eager to visit his atélier and personally to express his admiration for the artist: "Je commence à croire, mon illustre et respectable confrère, que Vous n'avez pas reçu mon petit billet jetté [!] il y a 3 jours à la Petite Porte sous l'adresse R. Vaugirard n 20. J'ose Vous réitérer le vif désir que j'ai de pouvoir Vous offrir dans Votre atelier l'hommage de ma constante admiration et je Vous supplie de me fixer, par deux lignes, le jour et le lieu et l'heure que Vous désirerez, je pourrai tous les jours depuis mercredi de 11h à 3h [...]".
The letter was probably written during Humboldt's Paris years (1807-26). However, David sculpted a bronze medal with the profile of the great naturalist dated 1831, five years after Humboldt's return to Berlin. A small bronze bust followed in 1844. A copy of the medal is held in the Numismatic collection of the Berlin State Museums.
With traces of folds and small loss to paper through breaking of the seal. Minimal browning and foxing.
