Auction of British Empire and Foreign Countries Postage Stamps and Postal History

Arctic Expeditions: 1897 (Dec. 20) U.S. War Department envelope sent from Washington franked 5c., addressed to journalist and author Arthur Brice in London, enclosing interesting two page typewritten letter composed and signed by American Polar explorer, and now Chief Signal Officer of the Army, Adolphus W. Greely, the envelope being also signed. The letter refers to the forthcoming second edition of Greely’s “Handbook of Arctic Discoveries” whilst apologizing that the letter is handwritten as “the loss of the middle finger of my right hand makes it quite impossible to write much with my own hand”. Greely also encloses a typed extract from his new edition recounting the expeditions and surveys of the Franz Josef archipelago by British explorer Frederick George Jackson whose “The Great Frozen Land” (1895) had been edited by Brice. Leader of the ill-fated 1881-84 Lady Franklin Bay Expedition from which only six men survived, Greely was subsequently obliged to later deny accusations of cannibalism when food supplies had run pitifully low. Photo.
[Proposed price: £220-250]