#MB84
1857
Duodecimo (ca. 14,5x9 cm). 1 p. Brown ink on laid paper. With a 19th century ink inscription “Sir George Back, R.N., the Arctic Navigator.” Upper left corner cut off, hole at top of page marginally affecting the address, but overall a very good letter.
A short note from a British naval officer and renowned Arctic explorer George Back, referring to the list of members of the Royal Geographical Society of which he was a vice-president at the time. Written in early April 1857 and apparently addressed to one of the office employees of the society, the note informs of his promotion to the rank of rear-admiral (which had happened two weeks before, on the 19th of March 1857).
“Sir George Back, naval officer who helped to trace the Arctic coastline of North America. He twice accompanied the British explorer John Franklin to Canada’s Northwest Territories (1819-22 and 1825-27) and later conducted two expeditions of his own to the same region. The first of these expeditions, in 1833, was to search for another British explorer, John Ross, who had disappeared on an Arctic voyage in 1829. The venture resulted in the exploration of the Great Fish River, now the Back River. In 1836 Back returned to explore the coastal region east from the mouth of the river. His writings include Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition to the Mouth of the Great Fish River (1836) and Narrative of Expedition in H.M.S. Terror (1838). He was knighted in 1839” (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
