Description
HE WAS THE FIRST RECOGNIZED MAN OF SCIENCE TO PUBLICLY BACK CHARLES DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION AND DARWIN LATER WROTE THAT HE WAS “THE ONE LIVING SOUL FROM WHOM I HAVE RECEIVED SYMPATHY”. HERE HOOKER SHARES THREE LATIN WORDS THAT PRECISELY DESCRIBE HIS LIFE’S PHILOSOPHY: “KEEP MY HEART” – REMAIN IN THE STRUGGLE OF LIVING FULLY – PERSEVERE WITH COURAGE.
SIR JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER (1817-1911) SIGNED QUOTE, “Jos. D. Hooker”, on a card 4 x 2, by the British botanist and explorer, who was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin’s closest friend. Hooker’s first expedition was the 1839-43 to the Antarctic with Sir James Clark Ross where he was assigned the task of collecting plants and making drawings of them. In 1846 he took a position as a botanist with the Geological Survey of Great Britain. In 1847 he left England for his three-year-long Himalayan expedition to study fossil plants in India and Borneo on behalf of Kew Gardens and the Admiralty. His Himalayan Journal, dedicated to Charles Darwin, was published 1854. He would further take expeditions to collect specimens to Syria, Palestine, Morocco, and the western United States. By his travels and his publications, Hooker built up a high scientific reputation and in 1865 succeeded his father as full-director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and was awarded the highest honors of British science. His greatest botanical work was The Flora of British India, published in seven-volumes starting in 1872. Hooker’s handwritten Latin quote, translated in full: “Keep my heart”. He is saying that “to keep heart” is to remain in the struggle of living fully – to persevere with courage. This wonderful historic find is in fine condition, with minor age toning and the date, “1905”, in another hand lower left.
$500 #12557
