No. 58. — 1907.] JOAN GIDEON LOTEN, F.R.S. 



239 



was carried out, and the said copper box with the said drawings 

 and sketches, and various additional prints in sepia and several 

 English prints of natural objects, were obtained by the secretary, 

 and laid on the table for inspection, which was carried out and 

 the informant thanked for his communication ; it was also re- 

 solved to thank in the friendliest manner the said Mr. J. Kol in the 

 name of the Society for his trouble In this matter, as also to offer 

 to pay the expenses incurred therein with thanks, as is fair. 



" Of this collection nothing is now to be found either in the 

 library or in the archives. I imagine that the copper box 

 together with its contents was in the collection of natural 

 curiosities that the Society at that time possessed, but that 

 was removed in 1866 (see Memorial of the 150th anniversary 

 of the Dutch Society of Sciences, 1902, p. 28). On that 

 occasion the copper box with plates was doubtless also given 

 away, to whom or to what institution is no longer to be 

 ascertained." 



This letter as well as the extract quoted from the old Kunst. 

 en Letterbode fits in so wonderfully well with my collection, 

 that at this moment I can entertain not a shadow of a doubt 

 that it is the legacy of Mr. Loten to the Dutch Society. Only 

 the vicissitudes of the plates between the year 1866, when the 

 Society mentioned had its " great dispersal," and the time 

 when the firm of Nijhoff got them into their possession, 

 which by my orders they bought for me on 13th February 

 1885, remains as yet a bit of unrecorded history. Mr. Boele 

 van Hensbroek wrote to me : " They belonged to me, and 

 formed part of a large lot of books, &c, that I had taken over 

 from the late art dealer A. G. de Visser. Whence the latter 

 had the drawings can no longer be traced." Of the copper 

 box spoken of there is at present even less of any trace to be 

 discovered. 



And here also for the moment my knowledge of the matter 

 stops. Meanwhile I shall be indebted for all further references 

 or information that anyone can send me regarding the prin- 

 cipal persons here brought on the stage, or their adventures 

 and employments. 



The Hague, February 1906. 



v. H. 



