Title:
Xaverio/Saverio Manetti to Carl Linnaeus
Type:
Image
Licence:
Contact [email protected]
Repository:
The Linnean Society of London
Collection:
Linnaean Correspondence
Reference number:
LC/10/20
Archival level:
Item
Date:
26 August 1757
Placement:
Volume 10: 29-30
Extent:
29-30
Description:
During the previous months Xaverio Manetti visited Naples and Rome together with Peder Peder Ascanius who is a Norwegian [Danish] and a former disciple of Linnaeus. When Ascanius returns to Sweden, he will bring Linnaeus the present letter together with a compendium of Linnaeus’s “Systema sexualis” and Philosophia botanica that Manetti has made for those in Italy who love botany. He would like to publish it [Manetti published four books with almost identical titles in 1756, one of which was Regnum vegetabile]. Manetti also takes the opportunity to send dried specimens. He mentions a branch of Filex with oak-apples, Linum latifolium montanum, Convolvolus argenteus altheae folio, Gramen barcionense that grows at the walls of Porta Capuana in Naples, Jacobaea annua senecionis folio, etc. Manetti had written many times to Linnaeus and also sent him seeds. However, the distance is so great between them that letters and parcels cannot travel safely. Manetti has recently returned to Florence from a journey. Heated greenhouses have been built in the Botanical Garden of Florence. Unfortunately, much was then destroyed. All the boxes of plants and seeds were disrupted. Manetti has therefore hardly anything to send to his friends. Furthermore, the small delicate plants were damaged by a hailstorm in May. Manetti would like to receive Linnaeus’s recent published works of which he hardly has any knowledge, for example, Flora Svecica 2nd ed. and Materia medica [unclear which publication Manetti means; it could be the Materia medica, or the dissertation, Dissertatio de materia medica, also published in Amoenitates academicae , vol. 2, published in 1752]. In return Manetti can send other works. He hopes that peace will come to the Mediterranean. So much evil comes from the French and the English. He also hopes that peace comes to Germany that has suffered so much. Manetti suggests that letters should be exchanged through his close friend, Ascanius, who will remain in Copenhagen.
Sender:
Manetti, Xaverio/Saverio
Sent from location:
Florentiae [Firenze, Italy]
Recipient:
Linnaeus, Carl
Transcription:
Vir Celeberrrime Quamvis non satis recte litteras meas, hoc est meae erga Te Vir Doctissime atque Celeberrime observantiae interpretes reddi, ut a Dom[in]o Sauvagesio intellexerim, atque usu ipso didicerim, valdeque doleam, omnes tamen occasiones capto eas transmittendi. Superioribus mensibus una cum Dom[in]o Ascanio natione Norvego, olim Discipulo Tuo experientissimo, Littus Neapolitanum, Agrumque Romanum visitavi, eumque inter Amicos meos carissimos recepi: Idem nunc in Patriam redux ad Te Vir Celeberrime et Botanicorum Summe, epistolam hanc festinanter scriptam curabit una cum Compendio Systematis Tui Sexualis et Philosophiae Botanicae, quod in Botanophilorum nostrorum commodum, et ut Tibi officiorum meorum munera adimplerem, necnon observantiae erga Te vincula enixe declararem editum hic volui. Hac ipsa occasione perpauca herbarum sicca exemplaria mitto quae tantum ad manus habeo, cum plura adhuc expectem in itinere collecta, quae in navi cum sint non adhuc Liburnum attigerunt. Inter haec reperies ramulum Filicis Gallas ferentis H. Pis. Linum latifolium montanum floribus luteis umbellatis H. Pis. Convolvulum Argenteum Altheae Folio C. B. Gramen dactylon spicis ab eodem exortu gemimis Bocc. Gramen Barcinonense spica densa aureat. quod in moeniis prope Portam Capuanam Neapoli provenit. Jacobaeam annuam Senecionis folio Foeniculi odore H. Pis. [Symbol]. Pluries ad Te scripsi, ac seminum collectiones misi quae revera ad Te non pervenisse dubito. Doleo quammaxime cum Beneficiorum Tuorum et Benevolentiae Tuae prorsus immemor videri possim. Parce quaeso Vir Amplissime et ut in meam culpam coniicere ne id velis rogo. Nimium est Viae circuitus ac locorum longinquitas ut ad Vos litterae et Sarciculae tuto vel commode transferri possint. Aegre pariter nunc fero seminum plantarum indigenarum paratam non habere collectionem ut eamdem ad Te hac occasione mittere, Tibique inservire possim. Nuper ex itinere Florentiam reversus nimius agendorum cumulus me distrahit ac necesse occupatum detinet; Insuper hoc tempore de novo in Horto Florentino construebantur ampliores Tepidarii, et Caldarii, ideoque ab operariis Viridarii area plurimum devastata est, omnesque plantae et seminum arculae perturbatae sunt. Hoc idem damnum insequenti pariter anno persentiam, quum vix aliquid habuero cum amicis dividendum, nam plantae omnes è seminibus ortae ac tenellae a furibunda tempestate et grandine ineunte Maio summam labem retulerunt. Plurima Tua postrema opera ardenter desiderabam quorum vix notitiam habeo, praesertim Florae Svecicae postremam editionem, Cloridem Suecicam, Materiam Medicam, et plures alias dissertationes Tuas Academicas. Libros nonullos nostros si desiderabis in commutationem transmittam. Utinam Mediterraneo mari Pax affulgeat nec tanta mala a Gallis vel Anglis. Hoc idem ut Germaniae accidat, enixe praecor quae dire nimium affligitur. Amicissimus Dom[in]us Ascanius Hafniae pedem figet ideoque nulla possumus uti via rectiore, promptioreque pro nostro commercio, nam idem libenter litteras a me recipiet, et Tuas ad me curabit, vel saltem inter nos promtus et commodus interpres esse potest. Si itaque in posterum ad me nonnulla mittere velis rogo ut laudato Domino Ascanio mittas. Tandem ne desine me amare, tuisque Litteris honoratissimis data occasione, affectus et benevolentiae Tuae magni semper aestimatae redde certiorem. Vale. Scribebam Florentiae XXVI. Augusti 1757. Humillimus et addictissimus servus Xaverius Manetti
Previous reference number:
L2222
