#MB88
1896
Octavo (ca. 18x11,5 cm). 1 p. Brown ink on watermarked laid paper with printed letterhead ‘Quai de la Charite, 3’. With the original envelope inscribed by Bonvalot, with Lyon postal ink stamps. Both the letter and the envelope are mounted in a paper folder (ca. Early 20th century) titled in ink ‘Bonvalot, explorateur français’. Two newspaper clippings with Bonvalot’s portraits are also mounted in the folder on the opposite side. The folder is worn at extremities, with a tear on the hinge, but the letter and the envelope are in very good condition.
A short note by Pierre Gabriel Édouard Bonvalot, French explorer of Central Asia and Tibet. Bonvalot writes to André Liesse, a French Journalist and economist, thanking him for his ‘precious information’ and asking about a forthcoming meeting with M. De Chambrice.
By the time when this note was written Bonvalot had already become famous after his expeditions to Russian Central Asia in 1880-82 and 1886 (Pamir, Alai and Karakoram Mountains), and to Tibet in 1889-1890 when he crossed Asia from Chinese Turkestan to the French Indochina through the Tian Shan Mountains, the Tarim Basin, the Lop Nor and the Tibetan Plateau. The letter is supplemented with two newspaper clippings with the portraits of Bonvalot, one of which shows him with Prince Henri of Orléans (1867-1901) who accompanied Bonvalot during two of his travels to Central Asia.
