$12,000
Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000
Auction: September 30, 2016 11:00:00 AM EDT
(Polar Exploration : Historical Photos). Robert E. Peary's Third and Final North Pole Expedition. 1908 - 1910. Two (2) oblong folios, original leather; rubbed and worn. Holding 513 original silver gelatin photos detailing the expedition's activities from Newfoundland and Labrador to Greenland, north as far as Etah; compiled by George Frederick Norton, a member and financial supporter of the expedition, the photos presumably executed by Norton's friend and expedition companion, H. Whitney.
The first album holds 242 photos mounted on both sides of 39 sheets; 71 measure 3 3/8 x 11 1/2 inches; 85 x 295 mm, 131 measure 4 x 4 7/8 inches; 100 x 124 mm; 40 measure 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches; 70 x 95 mm. The second album holds 271 mounted photos on the rectos of 68 sheets; all measure 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches; 85 x 140 mm. All in very good or better states of preservation, clean and clear.
The first album follows the expedition from Newfoundland to northern Greenland; the photos in the second likely depict activities in and around Etah, Greenland, some, at least, after Robert E. Peary and Matthew Henson's departure towards the pole. A few photos are captioned, several signed and dated, "1909, 1910" in the negative by H. Whitney.
The photos include 3 with images of Robert E. Peary, 2 of Matthew Henson (1 showing him handling dogs), images of the principal and other Inuit members of the expedition, Captain Robert Bartlett of the S.S. "Roosevelt"; working and daily activities aboard the "Roosevelt;" operation of a Whaling Station, preparing meat for the expedition's dogs; views of Holsteinsborg and Godhavn, Greenland, including scenes of Inuit life; the coast of Greenland, icefields and icebergs; many views of Inuit life, including women and children, adult couples, a bride and groom, Inuit clothing and tools, sleds and dogs, camps and habitations; Inuit hunting and harvesting seals, small whales and musk ox; free, living wildlife, including musk ox, seals, walrus, arctic hares; a polar bear sighted, hunted and dressed. Images of the photographer, H. Whitney and of George Frederick Norton, dining with Peary and Captain Bartlett are also included.
Lot also includes photos and documents relating to George Frederick Norton.
Norton, George Frederick, 1876 - 1917, adventurer, hunter, traveler, member of Peary's final expedition to the North Pole, contributed a grizzly bear specimen, known as the "Norton Bear," to the Smithsonian. Killed in France, during the First World War, while serving in the American Ambulance Corps, Section 1, by a bomb dropped from a German airplane.
Provenance: by family descent.