[THE ZARAFA GIRAFFE]. PRÉVOST Florent (1794-1870). Autograph bill signed, [Paris] October 26, 1846. 1 p. in-8 oblong. It announces "Calignan is charged to go and fetch the skeleton of the Giraffe with his car." Florent Prévost naturalist and illustrator, was a colleague and a pupil of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Arrived in France in 1826, this gift from the Pasha of Egypt to King Charles X, triggered a real "giraffe mania". Zarafa1 took 41 days to arrive on foot in Paris (spring 1827) accompanied by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. After her presentation to the king, the "beautiful African" took up residence in the Jardin des Plantes and delighted the curious. She died at the age of 22, in 1845. This giraffe set off all the scientists of the time, Darwin, Lamarck... Its skeleton is visible (naturalized), in the Museum of Natural History of La Rochelle. 1 The name of the giraffe comes from the Arabic Zerafa (graceful, charming).