Elie de Beaumont, Jean-Baptiste Armand Louis Léonce (1798-1874), French geologist.

72 autograph letters by Jean-Baptiste Armand Louis Léonce Elie de Beaumont (1798-1874), numbered 1-69 and including 13^A, 28^A and 69^A. Correspondents include his cousin Mrs O'Connor (nos.6, 23); Mr Valenciennes, professor at the Jardin des Plantes (no.9); the baron Charles Dupin, President of the French commission at the Mineral Exposition (no.25); Mr de Coutencin, General Director of the Administration des Cultes (no.33); Antoine Pingart, Chief of the secretariat of the Institut de France (nos.47, 51, 62-63); Mr D.J. Ansted, Secretary of the Geological Society of London (no.57); Michel Chevalier, Conseiller d'Etat (no.68).

1 letter received from Mr Coulier (no.70)

1 Notice about Jean-Baptiste-Armand-Louis-Léonce Elie de Beaumont, by C. Menson de la Hennerie (no.71)

1 folder containing 5 letters by Elie de Beaumont in his capacity as Perpetual Secretary of the Institut de France (later Institut Impérial) and Académie des Sciences, 1854-1868 (no.72).

1 document signed by Elie de Beaumont recording funds made available by the Académie des Sciences, 1859-1860 (no.73).

1 document signed by Elie de Beaumont recording a payment to him by the École Impériale des Mines, 1854 (no.74).

1 certificate, signed by Elie de Beaumont, recording that Mons. Roussel de Vauzem, doctor of medicine, has been elected a member of the Société des Sciences Naturelles, 1834 (no.75).

1 document (endorsed as by Elie de Beaumont, but not signed), recording water temperatures taken during July-October 1828 in various springs in France (no.76).

1 printed opening address by Elie de Beaumont to the general assembly of the Société de Géographie, 1859 (no.77).

1824-1873

1 file (80 items)

Purchased from: Charavay, Paris, October 1928 / April 1929 (acc.63700); unknown vendor, Paris, April 1930 (acc.67391); Desgranges, Paris, June 1930 (acc.67390); Desgranges, Paris, October 1930 (acc.63459); Stevens, London, March 1931 (acc.56477); Sotheby's, London, July 1931 (acc.57468); Sotheby's, London, February 1932 (acc.76067); Sotheby's, London, February 1932 (acc.76088); Desgranges, Paris, September 1932 (acc.65659); Desgranges, Paris, November 1932 (acc.65667); Sotheby's, London, November 1933 (acc.67469); Desgranges, Paris, July 1934 (acc.67124); Glendining, London, August 1935 (possibly an error for 1934) (acc.67880); Desgranges, Paris, January 1936, or Glendining, London, c.1932 (acc.69292); Desgranges, Paris, January 1936, or Glendining, London, c.1932 (acc.69293); no accession details recorded for nos. 3-4, 12-13^A, 16, 18, 20-22, 25-26, 28-32, 47, 50, 52-53, 56, 58-60, 62-63, 70-71.

Jean-Baptiste Elie de Beaumont was born at Canon, in Calvados (France), on 25 September 1795, and was educated at the most famous Grandes Ecoles of Mathematics: the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole des Mines. In 1823, he accompanied his professor of geologye Brochant de Villiers in a tour to England and Scotland. In 1835, he succeded to his master as a professor of geology at the Ecole des Mines. He was also engineer-in-chief of mines in France from 1833 until 1847, and a member of the Academy of Berlin, of the French Academy of Sciences and of the Royal Society of London. He was made a senator of France in 1852, and on the death of François Arago in 1853 he was chosen perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences. He died on 21 September 1874, in Paris. His name is connected to a theory of the origin of mountain ranges, and to the preparation of the geological map fo France.