Autograph letter signed ("Dr. Koch").
8vo (180 x 113 mm). 2 pp. on bifolium, comprising 19 lines.
€ 3,500.00
To the German chemist and hygienist Bernhard Proskauer: "Verabredetermaßen theile ich Ihnen gleich nach meiner Ankunft in Rom meine Adresse mit. Dieselbe lautet: Hotel Minerva, Piazza della Minerva. Bitte schreiben Sie mir recht bald über Alles, was sich inziwschen in Bezug auf das Hygienische Laboratorium zugetragen hat. Unmittelbar vor meiner Abreise erhielt ich noch vom Kultusministerium die Genehmigung, daß Sie mich in dringenden Angelegenheiten des Hygienischen Laboratoriums vertreten [...]".
From 1874 Proskauer worked at the Imperial Health Office in Berlin; in 1885 Koch was appointed Head of the Institute of Hygiene at Berlin University and Proskauer became departmental head. In May of that year, Koch was sent to Rome as a German delegate for the 6th international sanitary conference. In the letter, Koch tells Proskauer his current address in Rome, instructs him to keep him updated on any recent events at the Institute, informs him that he has been given official permission to conduct any urgent business at the Institute on Koch's behalf for the duration of his short stay in Rome, and asks him to pass on Koch's address and greetings to two further colleagues, one of whom was responsible for recommending the hotel at which Koch is currently residing (Hotel Minerva, Piazza della Minerva).
Small cracks in the center crease. Sometime folded, short note in pencil in a different hand on recto of second leaf.
