[Adalbert, Prince of Bavaria.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Adalbert | Prince de Bavière.’), in French, to Lady Cullum, discussing the benefits of dehorning livestock, and presenting her with two gold medals for her efforts in promoting the practice.

Written while his brother Maximilian II was on the throne. (Following Maximilian’s death in 1864 Bavaria would be ruled by the celebrated ‘mad king’, Adalbert’s nephew Ludwig II.) The recipient is Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875), widow of Rev. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum (1777-1855), 8th Baronet, of Hardwick House, Bury St Edmunds, who is referred to as ‘botanist and antiquary’ in his eponymous father’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. Thirty-six lines, neatly and closely written. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. Good firm signature, underlined with flourish. Addressed at foot of first page to ‘Lady Cullum, à son Château de Bury St Edmond, (Angleterre)’. He begins with the salutation ‘Milady’, and says that he has heard, through ‘M. le Conseiller Dutrône, les soins que vous donnez à l’amélioration des Races Bovines désarmées’. He congratulates her for this, before proceeding to expound at some length his position that the ‘œuvre’ of dehorning is ‘non seulement agricole, mais humanitaire, - je dirai même chrétienne, puisque les vache désarmées sont moins dangereuses que les autres, pour notre prochain’. What she has already done towards in regard to this matter is but a ‘gage de ce que vous ferez à l’avenir. - C’est donc avec un double bonheur que je vous adresse, Milady, comme signe de ralliement entre les amis cosmopolites de cette réforme, un modeste specimen des Médailles d’or fondées (l’un, en Angleterre, au Concours International d’Agriculture de Chelsmford, [sic] l’autre, en Allemagne, au Congrès International de Bienfaisance de Francfort S mein)’. From the Cullum family papers.