[MELBOURNE] Thomas N. Fitzgerald, surgeon : autograph private note, signed, on his “Rostella” letterhead. Melbourne, October 1903.

A$200 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Signed

Manuscript in ink, 1 page, octavo (200 x 125 mm), on FitzGerald s personal stationery with embossed letterhead of a racehorse and jockey and the name of his residence, Rostella ; dated Saturday Oct 12 03 , the note is addressed My dear Mrs McWilliams and is signed in full at the foot T. N. FitzGerald , who writes: Thanks very much for your kind note. It gives me very much pleasure to know that after your great cab experience you are still in the land of the living. With kind regards, believe me sincerely yours . ; light foxing and toning, otherwise in fine condition. Sir Thomas Naghten FitzGerald (1838-1908), who arrived in Melbourne from Ireland in 1858, was unquestionably the single most important figure in the history of medicine in Melbourne in the nineteenth century. In 1897 he was the first Australian to receive a knighthood for services to the medical profession. FitzGerald also became one of the wealthiest citizens in the metropolis: the magnificent Italianate mansion Rostella with 24 rooms (including a ballroom) and a miniature tennis court was built for him at the western end of Lonsdale Street in 1869, next door to his own private hospital. FitzGerald had a passion for both thoroughbred racing and the arts: he bred and owned a string of racehorses, and in 1881 he purchased the oil painting Chloé at the time scandalous for its full-frontal nudity, but today a Melbourne icon for the staggering sum of 850 guineas. The painting hung in Rostella until his death in 1908.

• Binding: Hardcover

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