El Cristo, De Boury, 1913. Original hand-written, signed and dated letter on two leaves of 28.0 x 21.6 cm each.

A long, autographic letter, including a few drawings, by the French malacologist Marie Eugène Aubourg de Boury (1855-1920) to – in all probability – his compatriot and colleague, Louis Marie Adolphe Olivier Édouard "Louis" Joubin (1861-1935). The addressee is not mentioned, but in the last line, De Boury inquires about the health of Madame Joubin. Interestingly, De Boury wrote this letter while staying in Cuba. El Cristo is just north of Santiago de Cuba. De Boury had difficulties walking, but – apparently – that did not stop him from travelling widely, or from collecting. In the neighbourhood of Santiago he collected molluscs and crustaceans. The latter were reported upon by Bouvier in 1918 in the Bulletin du Muséum nationale d'Histoire naturelle (Volume 24). Letter is folded in four, with slight fraying and some soiling and discolouring at the edges, but generally in a good condition.