Sold For $9,746
*Includes Buyers Premium
Remarkable photograph album from the 1899 Peary Relief Expedition, containing a total of 175 silver print photographs, ranging in size from 3 x 2 to 6.5 x 4.75, mounted on 52 album leaves, a handful of which bear ink captions made by a member of the expedition steamer Diana, which sailed for Greenland in July 1899 laden with ample provisions to support Robert Peary's third Arctic expedition. The Diana made stops at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and the larger settlements at Disko Bay and Upernavik, Greenland, before reaching Peary's base at Etah in northern Greenland. The folio album, 10.25 x 7.25, contains a wealth of photographs that bring the Greenland excursion into vivid, dramatic life. This includes Arctic scenery like glaciers, fjords, and icebergs; groups of Inuit at work or with their children; sled dogs and shots of the Diana and its crew; and several walrus carcasses.
Of the few photographs captioned, one of them depicts Matthew Henson, Peary's longtime colleague and the most notable Black Arctic explorer, who was with Peary in their still-controversial 1909 dash to the North Pole. Henson is seen wearing his furs on the ice as he prepares to enter an open rowboat. Peary is named in one caption and pictured standing outside his Etah headquarters with the expedition's physician, T. F. Diedrich. Another group photo shows Peary, Henson, and Diedrich posing with more than 30 Inuit.
Two photographs near the end show the Diana and its expedition members in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on July 20, 1899, with appended captions and photographer credits. The photographer is not credited for the other photographs, but they were likely taken by the relief expedition member who compiled the album, who is believed to be Frank Caspar Hinckley (1874-1935) of Bangor, Maine, who is named in the captions of photos from both expeditions in the rear of this volume. An 1896 graduate of Harvard, Hinckley was part of a 1898 United States Geological Expedition to the southern coast of Alaska, and then spent the summer of 1899 as part of the Peary Relief Expedition in Greenland. Newspaper reports name him as part of the relief expedition's ‘Sportsmen's Party.’ He spent the remainder of his life as a woodsman, mapping and exploring timberlands from Maine to Labrador, and then establishing parks and campgrounds in northern Maine.
Photographs at the album’s close are captioned from a different expedition to Alaska, with one example dated August 18th [1898]. Photos show four named men in a canoe, the harbor at Skagway, and a party of Alaskan Natives in a canoe on the Yentna River near the southern Alaska coast. Another group of 10 uncaptioned photos near the end, printed on a different stock from the other Peary Relief photos, may also date from this Alaska expedition. In overall fine condition, with a tear to the spine of the photo album.
Between 1886 and 1909, the Peary Arctic Club, led by U.S. Navy engineer Robert Peary, organized eight expeditions to the Arctic. In 1891-1892 and 1893-95, he crossed the Greenland ice cap and learned Inuit survival techniques. He next sought to retrieve an ancient meteorite in 1896 and 1897. In 1898-1902, he made his first attempts to reach the North Pole aboard the Windward. On that journey, Peary returned from a three-month sledging trip with severely frostbitten feet that resulted in eight of his toes being amputated, a handicap that would plague him for the rest of his career. Despite Peary’s injury, the expedition resulted in the discovery of the northernmost point on mainland Greenland at Cape Morris Jesup. In 1906, he made swift progress at first, but then open water and a gale forced him to turn back short of the Pole, at 87°06'N. Finally, by Peary's account, he reached the North Pole in April 1909 with his longstanding companion, Matthew Henson, and four natives.
