Bonhams 1793 : SHACKLETON (ERNEST HENRY) Typed letter signed ("E.H. Shackleton"), written in support of William Speirs Bruce , 1914

Typed letter signed ("E.H. Shackleton"), to Charles E. Price, M.P., House of Commons, written in support of William Speirs Bruce's application for a government grant, and expressing his appreciation of Bruce's help and advice on deep-sea dredging and equipment ("regarding which matter he is a recognised authority... The holding up of these special Biological reports which are ready for press is extremely unfortunate in view of the forthcoming Antarctic Expeditions... I earnestly hope that the Government will contribute this further small sum to an object that redounds to the credit of the the country and the benefit of Science"), 2 pages on 2 sheets pinned together, on Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition headed note-paper, 4to, 19 March 1914

Estimate:

£2,000 - 3,000
US$ 3,000 - 4,500
AU$ 3,100 - 4,600

Footnotes

Shackleton expresses his admiration and support for William Speirs Bruce, who led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (190204), establishing the first permanent weather station in Antarctica and laying the foundation stone, it is now recognised, for modern climate change studies.

In 1906 Bruce founded the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, but his plans for a second Antarctic expedition failed to materialise due to a lack of public and financial support, and also perhaps to a long-running dispute with Sir Clements Markham. Despite this, he gave generous support and advice to Shackleton who in turn keenly supported Bruce's pubication of the SNAE scientific reports, which took from 1907 to 1920 to complete. See illustration overleaf.

Category: Books / Books, Maps and Manuscripts

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