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E. F. F. Chladni, manuscript letter written from Milan, April 26, 1811

 Item — Box: 3, Folder: 2

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The collection consists of books, manuscript letters, printed articles, meteorites, images and plates.

Dates

  • Other: April 26, 1811

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Extent

From the Collection: 4 boxes

Language of Materials

English

General

Some two dozen of Chladni's letters still survive. This letter was written to an unknown professor in Padua after Chladni's six-month residence with Count Nuvolone Pergamo in Turin. It enclosed some seeds for the professor from the Count, which Chladni is mailing to him since he will probably not be visiting Padua this year (though he seems after all to have done so). The watermark of this 1811 letter (a cherub displaying a banner with the Latin motto TO PARADISE) is identical, apart from the motto, with watermarks in paper used by Thomas Jefferson between 1802 and 1811. The countermark in one of the Jefferson sheets (GM, with a fleur-de-lis) makes it almost certain that the papermaker was Giorgio Magnani of Cartiera Magnani in Brescia, a firm founded in 14104 and still an important mill. Jefferson may have purchased hsi stock during his stay in Paris; Chladni could have found Magnani paper in Italy, Paris, or almost anywhere in Europe.

Repository Details

Part of the Lewis & Clark College, Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
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