Invoice Letter From The Pioneer Of Truffle Farming In 1863

[TRUFFLES]. ROUSSEAU, Auguste, Autograph letter signed to Mr. Prosper Galopin, 9 rue du four Saint Honoré in Paris. Carpentras, January 19, 1863. 1 page in-4 on pre-printed order form with Auguste Rousseau letterhead, “Fresh black truffles and preserved truffles in bottles and boxes. » Address, stamp and stamps on the back. Some minor tears at the edges, two perforation holes in the right margin (the document must have been kept in the Galopin archives). Rare letter from Auguste Rousseau, pioneer of truffle farming, to a Parisian dealer, announcing the sending of baskets of truffles, and deploring bad weather for truffle farming. “Sir, I received your letter yesterday & I immediately sent you a dispatch announcing the above dispatch. The situation is still the same. After the rain we had snow. We must hope that the evil will stop there. Tomorrow I plan to send you two or three baskets. But beautiful merchandise becomes very rare with bad weather. Accept my greetings, Aug[us]te Rousseau. » The history of truffle farming remains attached to two names, Joseph Talon (1793-1873) for his invention, and his cousin, Auguste Rousseau (1808-1894), merchant in Carpentras, for its diffusion and popularization. The latter is considered the true founder of truffle production and the canning industry for this tuber. “After observing the functioning of wild truffle fields on the slopes of Ventoux, Joseph Talon, a caver in Saint-Saturnin-d'Apt, would have had the idea, around 1810-1814, of sowing acorns nearby. A few years later, the oaks having grown, he would then have harvested the first cultivated truffles. […] Talon would have managed to keep the secret of his plantations until the day his cousin, secretly spying on him, discovered his method. A few years later, it was the latter who popularized the indirect cultivation method. Also from Vaucluse, Auguste Rousseau is a merchant in Carpentras. He applies and reproduces at home, on a large scale, the planting method implemented by his cousin. In a short time, more than seven hectares of truffle groves, described as “artificial”, were planted and maintained. Soon, Auguste Rousseau marketed his truffles as far as Paris and even participated in the Universal Exhibition of 1855, where he was rewarded for the batches of truffles harvested on his property. Following these two pioneers, truffle culture […] spread quickly (and ultimately easily) across all truffle-growing areas and truffle-growing traditions. » (Carole Chazoule, “The unfinished story of truffle domestication”, Ruralia [online], 15, 2004) Prosper Galopin fils, owner of an edibles business on rue du four Saint-Honoré in Paris, appears in various almanacs of 1850s-1860s. He received an honorable mention at the Universal Exhibition of 1867 for the truffles presented (see Official catalog of exhibitors rewarded by the international jury, Universal Exhibition of 1867 in Paris, p. 31.).