MellerborgCE

Career

Collections

Literature

Biographical data

Mellerborg, Claës Erik

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I)

Born: 1773, Nyköping, Sweden. Died: 1828, Java.

career:

Was educated in theology and medicine, and had the good fortune to live for some time in C.P. Thunberg’s house as companion of the latter’s son; a pupil of Thunberg. He stayed at Uppsala till June 1805, then Med. Fil. Kand., and went to Göteborg where he was to accompany an Indiaman’s voyage to China as a ship’s surgeon. The voyage did not come off because of the war, and instead, he went to Pomerania (Germany) as a Medical Officer in 1806. From there he travelled in Europe, visiting Poland, Frankfurt, Berlin, Hanau, Göttingen, Greifswald, Augsburg (Dec. 1809-March 1810), Karlsruhe, Danzig, Strassburg, Paris (Aug. 1810), Bayonne, and Spain (1811).

In 1817 he evidently visited Norway (letters from Trontjem and Rorås), and from 1817-25 he possibly lived at Uddeholm (several letters from there), Sweden. The thought of a voyage to foreign countries still haunted him, and in 1825 he is planning a voyage to Brasil in 1826. But a letter from Helsingör (dated July 30, 1826) tells of his being o/b the brig ‘Themis’, owned by a wholesale dealer Wallis, with destination East India.

He collected all sorts of things, including insects.

collections:

Many sheets in Herb. Thunberg (= Uppsala [UPS]), mostly from his voyage in Europe, often cultivated plants. Mr Kern (Leiden) saw a specimen of Cyperus laevigatus (= lateralis) ‘e Java’, collected by Mellerborg, from the Herb. State Mus. Stockholm [S], but considers the locality to be very doubtful. It seems possible, however, that material from Java was forwarded to Thunberg.

Insects from Java in Zool. Mus. Stockholm.¹

literature:

(1) Cf. W. Horn & I. Kahle, Ueber entom. Samml. etc. (Entom. Beihefte II-IV, 1935/37, p. 172).

biographical data:

Several letters from Mellerborg to C.P. Thunberg in Library University of Uppsala in vol. xxM; autobiography in l.c. no 211; in the cited MS vol. his name, year of birth, and death (Java), is mentioned on p. 163.

	Career Collections Literature Biographical data
	Mellerborg, Claës Erik
	(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I)
	Born: 1773, Nyköping, Sweden. Died: 1828, Java.
	career: Was educated in theology and medicine, and had the good fortune to live for some time in C.P. Thunberg’s house as companion of the latter’s son; a pupil of Thunberg. He stayed at Uppsala till June 1805, then Med. Fil. Kand., and went to Göteborg where he was to accompany an Indiaman’s voyage to China as a ship’s surgeon. The voyage did not come off because of the war, and instead, he went to Pomerania (Germany) as a Medical Officer in 1806. From there he travelled in Europe, visiting Poland, Frankfurt, Berlin, Hanau, Göttingen, Greifswald, Augsburg (Dec. 1809-March 1810), Karlsruhe, Danzig, Strassburg, Paris (Aug. 1810), Bayonne, and Spain (1811). In 1817 he evidently visited Norway (letters from Trontjem and Rorås), and from 1817-25 he possibly lived at Uddeholm (several letters from there), Sweden. The thought of a voyage to foreign countries still haunted him, and in 1825 he is planning a voyage to Brasil in 1826. But a letter from Helsingör (dated July 30, 1826) tells of his being o/b the brig ‘Themis’, owned by a wholesale dealer Wallis, with destination East India. He collected all sorts of things, including insects.
	collections: Many sheets in Herb. Thunberg (= Uppsala [UPS]), mostly from his voyage in Europe, often cultivated plants. Mr Kern (Leiden) saw a specimen of Cyperus laevigatus (= lateralis) ‘e Java’, collected by Mellerborg, from the Herb. State Mus. Stockholm [S], but considers the locality to be very doubtful. It seems possible, however, that material from Java was forwarded to Thunberg. Insects from Java in Zool. Mus. Stockholm.¹
	literature: (1) Cf. W. Horn & I. Kahle, Ueber entom. Samml. etc. (Entom. Beihefte II-IV, 1935/37, p. 172).
	biographical data: Several letters from Mellerborg to C.P. Thunberg in Library University of Uppsala in vol. xxM; autobiography in l.c. no 211; in the cited MS vol. his name, year of birth, and death (Java), is mentioned on p. 163.