Miscellany: Polar explorers

Correspondence by various Polar explorers, formerly held in the Western Manuscripts Department's Autograph Letters Sequence:

1-6 Admiral Sir George Back F.R.S. (1796-1878) 1844-1865 - 5 autograph letters, signed (nos.1-5), 1844-1865 and n.d., including 1 to Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) (no.3); also 1 printed affadavit concerning Back's employment, with manuscript insertions and his signature (no.6), 1823.

7-12 John Rae F.R.S. (1813-1893) 1854-1884 - 6 autograph letters, signed.

13-14 Rear-Admiral James Clark Ross (1800-1862) c.1833 - 1 autograph letter, signed, 1826 (no.13); 1 autograph note, signed by Ross (giving details of the duration of his expedition to the Arctic with James Ross in 1829-1833; probably written for an autograph collector), (no.14). Rear-Admiral James Clark Ross (1800-1862) was the nephew of Rear-Admiral Sir John Ross (1777-1856), also a Polar explorer.

15-28 General Sir Edward Sabine F.R.S. (1788-1883) 1832-1864 - 14 autograph letters, signed. Correspondents include the meteorologist Dominique François Jean Arago (1786-1853) (no.15) and the botanist William Gourlie (1815-1856) (nos.19 and 23).

29-32 Reverend William Scoresby F.R.S. (1789-1857) 1821-1855 - 3 autograph letters, signed, 1821-1855 and n.d. (nos.29-31), no.31 to the botanist William Gourlie (1815-1856) and written on a printed list of Scoresby's publications; 1 autograph letter in the third person from Mrs. Scoresby to a chemist requesting that he make up a plaster (no.32).

1821-1884

32 items.

Purchased from: Desgranges, Paris, June 1930 (acc.67390); Stevens, London, December 1930 (acc.68113), March 1931 (acc.56478 and 68135), July 1931 (acc.68190), August 1931 (acc.68228), September 1931 (acc.68262) and August 1934 (acc.68369); Sotheby's, London, November 1931 (acc.75332); Glendining, London, January 1932 (acc.67620), January 1935 (acc.67990) and April 1935 (acc. 68587). Provenance of nos.9, 19, 23, 30 and 31 not recorded (acc.67430); no accession details noted for nos.16 and 20.

At Wellcome Collection: For general Polar material see also the Townsend Thorndike Polar collection (MSS.7481-7490). Material by Sabine is also held at WMS/Amer.109-111. A letter by Admiral Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim (1826-1866), member of 1852 Arctic expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, occurs at MS.7430/21.

Database description transcribed from Richard Aspin and Christopher Hilton's typescript supplement to S.A.J Moorat's Catalogue of Western Manuscripts