30 Mar 2012
14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge
Polar Sale: Scott and Amundsen Centenary
Back to auction 19552
Polar Sale: Scott and Amundsen Centenary
Back to auction 19552
SCOTT (ROBERT FALCON)
Typed letter signed ("R.F. Scott"), to Sir Archibald Geikie, petitioning his help in persuading the New Zealand government to allow the geologist Mackintosh-Bell to join the expedition, 2 pages, with 2 words corrected in Scott's hand, stapled in corner, 4to, on headed paper "British Antarctic Expedition", 7 January 1910
Sold for
£2,750
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Scott asks for the assistance of Sir Archibald Geikie, President of the Royal Society and a member of the Expedition Advisory Committee, in overturning the New Zealand Government's refusal to allow James Mackintosh-Bell from joining the Expedition. Mackintosh-Bell (1877-1934) had declined Scott's offer of joining the British National Antarctic expedition, 1901-1904, and, when this letter was written, held the post of director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand. Scott writes hoping "to have a statement from some scientific authority that Mr. Mackintosh-Bell would be a valuable addition to the Expedition staff and possibly that his knowledge of the geology of New Zealand would especially qualify him for work in the Antarctic continent...". The approach failed, and Makintosh-Bell remained in his position until 1911, but the letter is typical of the pro-active manner in which Scott attempted to bolster the scientific expertise of the expedition.
Category: Books / Books, Maps and Manuscripts
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