Letters from Alabama, (U.S.): chiefly relating to natural history

409 Pages·1993·3.08 MB·English

by  Philip Henry Gosse

Letters From Alabama, (U.S.) : Chiefly
title: Relating to Natural History Library of
Alabama Classics
author: Gosse, Philip Henry.; Jackson, Harvey H.
publisher: University of Alabama Press
isbn10 | asin: 0817306838
print isbn13: 9780817306830
ebook isbn13: 9780585323084
language: English
Natural history--Alabama, Alabama--
subject Description and travel, Gosse, Philip
Henry,--1810-1888--Diaries.
publication date: 1993
lcc: QH105.A2G6 1993eb
ddc: 508.761
Natural history--Alabama, Alabama--
subject:
Description and travel, Gosse, Philip
Henry,--1810-1888--Diaries.
Page [1]
Letters From Alabama
Page [2]
The Library of Alabama Classics,
reprint editions of works important
to the history, literature, and culture of
Alabama, is dedicated to the memory of
Rucker Agee
whose pioneering work in the fields
of Alabama history and historical geography
continues to be the standard of
scholarly achievement.
Page [3]
Letters From Alabama,
(U.S.)
Chiefly Relating to Natural History
Philip Henry Gosse, F.R.S.
An Annotated Edition
With an Introduction by
HARVEY H. JACKSON III
Page [4]
Introduction copyright © 1993
The University of Alabama Press
Annotations copyright © 1983
Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information Science-
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-
1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gosse, Philip Henry, 18101888.
Letters from Alabama, (U.S.): chiefly relating to
natural history/Philip Henry Gosse; with an
introduction by Harvey H. Jackson IIIAnnotated ed.
p. cm.(The Library of Alabama classics)
Originally published: London: Morgan and Chase,
1859. With new introd.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-8173-0683-8 (alk. paper)
1. Natural historyAlabama. 2. Alabama
Description and travel. 3. Gosse, Philip Henry,
18101888Diaries. I. Title. II. Series.
QH105.A2G6 1993
508.761dc20 92-27936
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available
Page [5]
CONTENTS
Introduction [7]
by Harvey H. Jackson III
Facsimile of Title Page iii
Preface v
Facsimile of Contents vii
Letters from Alabama 1
Notes [307]
Page [7]
INTRODUCTION
Harvey H. Jackson III
Late on a May afternoon in 1838, English naturalist Philip Henry
Gosse landed in Mobile. He found accommodations and the next
morning rose "with the first opening of sunlight [and] . . . hasten[ed]
into the dense forests which closely environ[ed] the town." Years later
he recalled his wonder and delight at what he found. "Everything here
was new," he wrote. ''Scarcely a tree occurred that I was familiar with,
and few I can now recollect sufficiently to identify." Alabama was a
naturalist's dream come true.
1
Gosse arrived in Mobile with a letter of introduction from a friend in
Philadelphia addressed to a gentleman who lived upriver at Claiborne.
Having heard that educated people were in demand in Alabama, and
having few prospects where he was, Gosse took a chance and came
south. Though only twenty-eight at the time, he had already seen a lot
Page [8]
of the world. At the age of seventeen he left his home in England and
indentured himself as a clerk in a Newfoundland seal fishery. Six
years at that post were followed by a period on a cooperative farm in
lower Canada, and when that venture failed he headed farther south,
first to Pennsylvania and then to Alabama.
2
Although his formal schooling was limited, Gosse read widely,
observed closely, and by the time he reached Mobile his interest in
nature and his artistic skill had shaped him into a promising scientist.
This background made him appreciate the newness of a scene more
than most travelers, for where others saw forests and fields he saw
trees, birds, insects, and other animalsincluding man. Moreover, his
powers of analysis and his attention to detail enabled him to record
what he saw with clarity and insight. These talents would serve him
well in Alabama.3
With introduction in hand Gosse booked passage on "one of the fine
high-pressure steamers that throng the Mobile wharves" and began his
trip to Claiborne. But when the boat arrived at that destination, the
Englishman remained on board. This decision was the result of a
chance meeting with a fellow passenger, Judge Reuben Saffold. A
noted jurist and a member of Alabama's Black Belt planter elite,
Saffold was one of "some half-dozen planters of influence" in Dallas
County who had agreed "to have their children educated together." It
struck Saffold that Gosse was an ideal
Page [9]
candidate to teach them. The judge offered him the position, along
with a "liberal remuneration," and Gosse accepted. He continued
upstream, and a short time later the newly hired tutor disembarked at
King's Landing, just below Selma. From there Philip Henry Gosse
walked the last ten miles to the Saffold plantation near Pleasant Hill.
4
Though Gosse assumed his new office with genuine enthusiasm, the
education of "about a dozen 'young ideas'" (as he called his students)
was never his principal interest. A naturalist first and foremost, during
the eight months he lived in Dallas County he watched, listened,
thought, took notes, and made sketchesactivities that led eventually to
Letters From Alabama. Written to no one in particular, a common
literary device of the period, they were first published nearly two
decades later in a magazine, The Home Friend, and in 1859 appeared
as a book. By that time the author was an established scholar, a Fellow
of the Royal Society, and one of England's most noted scientific
illustrators. The book was well received, but apparently it never
ranked high among his many accomplishments.5
The audience for whom Gosse intended Letters From Alabama is
apparent from the subtitleChiefly Relating to Natural Historyand in it
he describes "multitudes of objects to catch the eye and delight the
mind of an observant naturalist." Mammals, birds, insects (he
especially liked butterflies and moths), and reptiles attracted his at-