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Caprimulgus palmquisti Sjöstedt, 1908 (1 Viewer)

Taphrospilus

Taphrospilus

Well-known member
Caprimulgus palmquisti Sjöstedt, 1908 OD here
Dem Mäcenanten der Expedition, Herrn Direktor GUSTAF PALMQUIST, zu Ehren benannt.
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The Eponym Dictionary of Birds claims:
African Nightjar sp. Caprimulgus palmquisti Sjöstedt, 1908 NCR [Alt. Montane Nightjar; JS Caprimulgus poliocephalus]
Per Palmquist (d.1887) was a Swedish publisher who belonged to the revivalist movement and published many religious tracts. His company published Sjöstedt's report of the Swedish 1905–1906 Zoological Expedition to German East Africa (1908), wherein was printed the original description of the nightjar. It may be that the bird was named after the company rather than the man.
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The Key to Scientific Names
Per Palmquist (fl. 1880) Swedish publisher (syn. Caprimulgus poliocephalus).
Click to expand...

No idea why Per? And no idea about his life dates.
 
Yngve Sjöstedt traveled to Kamerun/Cameroon/Tanzania / German East Africa for roughly two years and the trip was sponsored by the publisher Palmquist.Yngve Sjöstedt was an Entomologist as well as Ornitologist and was among other things a professor at Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet in Stockholm, Sweden. Roughly translated as The National Museum for Nature History.

Maybe he honoured Per Palmquist to which he owed the opportunity to travel to Africa?
 
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About Per Palmquist he was a Swedish Baptist. Played the Organ, was a Baptist Teacher and Publisher of mostly religious literature.
Life dates 1815 to 1887. Seems he did not travel much himself.

His brother was Gustaf Palmquist, also a teacher. 1812-1867.
That seems to be the connection - they were seven brothers. Three of them active Baptists.
Gustaf moved to the US but was also somewhat active in Sweden.

Picture (!) of Gustaf:
stockholmskallan.stockholm.se

Kungsholms baptistförsamling 1870-1985, Gustaf Palmqvist

En bild på Gustaf Palmqvist, en av tre bröder tidigt aktiva i baptiströrelsen. Gustaf var född 26 maj 1812. Han var lärare vid Betelseminariet i Stockholm,
stockholmskallan.stockholm.se stockholmskallan.stockholm.se


Per Palmquist founded the Sunday School in Sweden in 1851.
 
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Yes, it is a bit confusing.
Maybe because they were brothers and both were involved, Per as the Publisher of the material from the travels.
As far as I can find Gustaf was not a Publisher but perhaps the main sponsor of the trip?
In the National Archives Gustaf is not listed as a Publisher, but an author of just a single book and not related to the topic. I can dig a little deeper but not until tomorrow evening.

They published a book together apparently. It has no connection Sjöstedts travels.

For the Sjöstedt travels I think that Gustaf probably had secured the finances and Per was the Publisher.
 
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Ok, I give it one more theory: if we focus on Palmquist: it was the name of the Printing and Publishing Company for which Per was Owner.
Per aqcuired P. Elde printing and renamed it a Palmquist AB, AB meaning "Company".

So if the bird had the name Palmquist in honor it could have definitely been for the Company Palmquist.
The honour does not exclude any of the two brothers, regardless of if one of them was the actual sponsor and the other the publisher.

If it is in honour of any particular brother it is a question that you might find in other literature, there is no one alive today that can answer that I think.
I don't think I can help you any further. Sorry!
 
My German is a little bit rusty but I did read that book excerpt.

I don't know what he was supposed to be "Direktor" of but it is as you point out mentioned that the the cost/economics was solved or provided for by Gustaf Palmquist. He was Director and founder of the Swedish American Baptist Church in Illinois but held no higher authority in science or in Swedish faculties other than being a teacher for some time.
 
Book Cover says P. Palmquist AktieBolag (Company) as Publishing Company. That is Per.
Swedish Royal Academy of Science stands as "supporter".

There is in the National Archives no mentions of Gustaf Palmquist in relation to any publications from that time and forward other than a few religious translations.
 
Ok - sorry for the multiple posts! I did read a few more of the German pages, it states that the bird is indeed named in honor of the Mecenat Direktor Gustaf Palmquist.

I think the confusion can be because of many things: who translated the book to German? Why is he titled Direktor - and of what? There can be a fault in the translation as to _what_Gustaf was but apparently yes, it was Gustaf.

Per is perhaps only mentioned as he is the Publisher.
 
Taphrospilus said:
Caprimulgus palmquisti Sjöstedt, 1908 OD here


The Eponym Dictionary of Birds claims:


The Key to Scientific Names


No idea why Per? And no idea about his life dates.
Click to expand...

I think that the Eponym Dictionary of Birds are simply wrong. Simple as that.

They simply confuse the brother Per as being "the" Palmquist that the bird is named after - when it is actually his brother Gustaf, as clearly mentioned in the book, in German.

The fact that Per is the Publisher has nothing to do with the honour that his brother Gustaf was given in naming the bird. The idea that the "Palmquisti" refers to (Pers) Company is just speculation - they actually write "may be".

If they had bothered to read the excerpt you showed me it is fairly clear that it that speculation is wrong about the company being given the honour.
 
One thing that does not make any sense is that both the Publisher Per was dead and gone by the time of publishing though of course his company lived on. His brother Gustaf died almost forty years before the trip. I will look into children of Per and see if there is something that will make sense of it!
 
I can't tell who he was precisely, but it seems obvious that there was someone around in the early 20th C, named Gustaf Palmquist/Palmqvist, who called himself a direktör, and who payed for this Kilimandjaro expedition.
E.g., in addition to the volumes dedicated to the expedition where he is called the Mäcenat der Expedition, see https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26140806
1905/6 företog intendenten en ny färd till Afrika. Det gällde då den zoologiska utforskningen af Kilimandjaro, Afrikas högsta, med evig snö klädda berg, del närliggande Meru-berget och omgifvande Massaistäpper. De hemförda samlingarna bildade 137 bärarlaster och omfattade omkring 60,000 djur, fördelade på 4,374, däraf 1,448 nya, arter. De äro publicerade i ett särskildt verk, i tre volymer. Expeditionen bekostades af direktör Gustaf Palmqvist.
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He may have been from Stockholm, based on https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3368729

Given this and the explicit dedication in the OD, it makes indeed little sense to look for the dedicatee among people who had been dead for decades at the time of the expedition.
 
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Yes, I agree - good find! It would be interesting to see if they had any relation.

He might have been involved with Naturhistoriska Museet or something similar for the Swedish Government. Back in those days the title for the head of a government department was Direktör.
 
Gustaf Theodor Palmquist was a Direktör in Stockholm around that time according to Rikskalendern, a national archive.
Will see if I can find out for which company or government body.
 
Hey both of you.
I have been contacted by a member who has connections in the right place. He will try to help put an end to the discussion with help from Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, he just wanted to double check their archives through his connections before saying anything definite.
He would try to do this when he has some spare time. I will get back to you.
 
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