Beschreibung:

BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION, 1910-1913 -- APSLEY GEORGE BENET CHERRY-GARRARD (1886-1959) Important series of 28 autograph letters signed ('Apsley'; a few unsigned) to his mother, Southampton, Cardiff, Madeira, Cape Town, Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, 25 June 1910 - 13 February 1913, a few letters written in pencil, altogether approximately 140 pages, 4to and 8vo , envelopes; with a carbon copy extract from his journal, 23-29 February 1912, during the attempted relief of the Southern Party, 5 pages, folio , and four telegrams, 15 June - 29 November 1910; and six letters by his mother to Cherry-Garrard during his absence, 22 December 1912 - 30 January 1913, all but one transcribed in a notebook, 4to , card covers (worn). 'I REGRET NOTHING IN THE EXPEDITION, WHICH WILL HAVE VERY GREAT RESULTS, THOUGH SOME OF IT IS VERY SAD'. A previously unknown correspondence by one of the key members of Scott's Last Expedition, covering the whole span of the Terra Nova Expedition from its departure from England to its return to New Zealand. The outward journey is covered in 16 letters, which give a strong impression of the idealistic and hopeful spirit with which the expedition began, and in particular of the youthful enthusiasm of Cherry-Garrard, its youngest member: 'We gave Scott a dinner last night before he got in -- i.e. as far as you can give a man a dinner on his own ship -- and got a speech out of him afterwards. It is obvious that he is extraordinarily pleased with the kind of spirit which prevails -- in fact he said that he believed that it had never been equalled in the history of Polar Exploration ... (13 October 1910). A number of letters look forward -- with what seems like fatal light-heartedness -- to the famous 'worst journey in the world' with Wilson to study the emperor penguin rookeries at Cape Crozier in mid-winter: '[Wilson] & I are going to Cape Crozier for some time in the winter if all goes well & that will be great fun I think, but of course very cold'. Four letters cover the establishment of quarters in the hut, and the early sledging: a substantial letter curiously misdated 16 November 1910 but evidently from mid-January 1911 provides an extensive description of the unloading, the early sleding and the construction of the hut, including a sketch map and plan; the theme is pursued in a letter of 22 January, which includes a more detailed sketch-plan of their living quarters, showing the cramped space occupied by Oates, Bowers, Cherry-Garrard, Meares and Atkinson, known as 'Bedlam' -- 'You should see us in "Bedlam" beckoning the others to "come inside"'. A long letter of 4 and 15 February 1912, the only one to survive from the expedition's second summer in the Antarctic, finds Cherry-Garrard on his return from the Southern Journey: 'We left Scott to go on with 7 men, 4 of whom would turn back after another 2 weeks, and he was then certain, as far as it is possible to say that such a thing is certain, to reach the Pole ...'. The mood thereafter darkens, and the final, tragic act of the expedition is played out in six numbered missives sent out simultaneously on the Terra Nova's return to New Zealand on 13 February 1913. The first of these, a long, dismal letter written during a night watch on 13 August 1912, without superscription or signature, gives the essence of the terrible news: 'The Polar Party have never come back, and as far as we know Campbell's party had to be left at Evans Coves. I will try to tell you what I can ...'; Cherry-Garrard goes on to recount his fruitless attempt to meet the Southern Party with Dimitri and the dogs, and the later attempt by Atkinson and others to meet them, and to provide for Campbell's party. The letter continues with harrowing details of the breakdown Cherry-Garrard suffered during the bitter winter that followed: 'I fainted after we got in ... I think this month was the worst time I have ever had -- I was so weak I could hardly get outside the Hut, and the anxiety