Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Entertainment and Sports Auction December 9th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/9/2021
This is fascinating collection of 7 items comprised of two handwritten letters and other materials related to both Robert E. Peary & Frederick Cook and the North Pole. The first items is a letter written by Peary Autograph Letter Signed: "Peary", 1p, 5x7¾, . Washington, D.C., May 18, 1915. On stationery of "The Army and Navy Club". In the letter Peary writes to Mrs. Coleman in reference to some information and a photo being sent signed by Peary.
The other handwritten letter is dated March 12, 1936 and is on New Bismarck Hotel stationary and is from Frederick A Cook the other person trying to reach the North pole first. The letter is a thank you letter to a Mrs. Jones.
Accompanying the letters are 3 postcards related to the Peary and Cook race to the North pole and a “I am for Peary tag and a book “At The Pole with Cook & Peary”.
A fine collection, of letters and ephemera, showing the controversy and challenge of the race to the North Pole.
Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) became a Civil Engineer in the U.S. Navy in 1881, and in that capacity explored Greenland in 1886 on the first of his seven polar expeditions. On July 17, 1908, after three unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole, he set out on another polar expedition. On April 6, 1909, he and a small party, including his assistant, Matthew Henson, and four Inuit, became the first to reach the North Pole. Although another American, Frederick A. Cook, had claimed to have reached the Pole five days later, Cook's claim was later refuted. In 1911, the year he retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral, Congress officially recognized Peary's achievement.
Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) was an American explorer, physician, and ethnographer who claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. That was nearly a year before Robert Peary, who similarly claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Both men's accounts have been disputed ever since. His expedition was the first, and the only one with a United States national, to find a previously unknown, to people of European descent, North American Arctic island, Meighen Island.
With One of a Kind Collectibles LOA.
Peary and Cook Collection - North Pole
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