Two autograph letters signed by scientist Richard Owen dated July 1844

OWEN, Richard (1804-1892). Two autograph letters signed, both with Royal College of Surgeons written at the top, London, dated 19 July and 25 July 1844.
 
Together 4 pages (one letter on three sides of a bifolium and signed; the second on a single side), in ink. Both letters with original folds, light toning, and moderate remnants of old mounts to the verso or final leaf; the longer letter signed in full “Richard Owen”. Overall, about very good.
 
Both letters are addressed to the same correspondent connected with the Canterbury Philosophical Society. Owen thanks the recipient for arranging access to osteological collections, refers to Professor Owen’s own forthcoming return from the Continent, and expresses his intention, on his return to London, to examine the collection of British Reptiles and to report upon it. The shorter letter acknowledges receipt of a copy of a report and discusses the Society’s proposal to enlarge its collections, which Owen hopes to have the pleasure of examining later in the year.
 
Richard Owen (1804–1892), the leading British comparative anatomist of the mid-nineteenth century and the coiner of the term “Dinosauria” in 1842, was at this date Conservator of the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons and at the height of his influence in British scientific life. The letters fall during the period in which he was building the comparative anatomical collections that are located in the Natural History Museum.