Scottish missionary and explorer (1813–1873) who 'disappeared' on an expedition to find the source of the Nile only to be famously rediscovered by Henry M. Stanley several years later. ALS, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7.25, December 7, 1857. Addressed from Albemarle Street in London, a handwritten letter to abolitionist Mary Anne Rawson, in full: “I beg to tender you my very sincere thanks for the kind invitation which in consequence of my absence at Cambridge I have been unable to acknowledge before. I wish I could spend a few weeks in quiet they would be devoted to Benjamin Brodie but it is impossible though I do remain a little longer than anticipated or do enjoy.” Included with the letter are two pieces of wood, 2.5˝ x .75˝ and 2˝ x 1.5˝, both bearing affixed sheets with handwritten affirmations identifying them as deriving “from the tree under which was buried the heart of Dr. Livingstone.” Includes four leaves from said burial tree, as well as a period transmittal envelope annotated “Leaves from the tree under which Livingstone's heart was buried, given by the Rev R. Stewart Wright.” R. Stewart Wright (1858-1932) was an Edinburgh-born missionary with the London Missionary Society in Africa. In fine condition.
Livingstone died on May 1, 1873, at the age of 60 in Chief Chitambo's village at Chipundu, southeast of Lake Bangweulu, in present-day Zambia, from malaria and internal bleeding due to dysentery. Led by his loyal attendants, Chuma and Susi, his expedition arranged funeral ceremonies, which included removing his heart and burying it under a tree near the spot where he died. The tree has been identified variously as a mvula tree or a baobab tree, but is more likely to be a mpundu tree, as baobabs are found at lower altitudes and in more arid regions. That site, now known as the Livingstone Memorial, lists his date of death as May 4th, the date reported (and carved into the tree's trunk) by Chuma and Susi; but most sources consider May 1st—the date of Livingstone's final journal entry—as the correct one.
Provenance: By descent from the recipient to David R. Wilson (1926-2020), bookseller and ornithologist (obituary: British Birds, vol. 113, issue 9, pp 560-561).
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