#MD17
1913
Oblong 32mo (ca. 13.5 x 10 cm or 5 ¼ x 4 in). Brown ink on creamy wove cardstock with stamped address in upper right corner on recto. 2 pp. Minor staining on verso, otherwise a very good letter.
A rare original autograph letter signed by a noted French Antarctic explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot. A short personal note to his “dear friend” was written in Paris three years after his return from his second Antarctic expedition (1908-1910). The 1908-1910 French Antarctic Expedition was the third made by France and explored the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas, charting and naming features on the Antarctic Peninsula. Charcot reminds his friend that his home is always open to them and their loved ones.
The letterhead in the upper right corner on recto shows Charcot’s address and telephone number (“29 Rue St. James, Neuilly-S-Seine, Téléph: 487”).
Jean Baptiste Charcot was a French scientist and medical doctor. He is most well known for leading the 1904-1907 and 1908-1910 French Antarctic Expeditions, both focusing on the Antarctic Peninsula. In 1911 he was awarded the Patron Medal by the Royal Geographic Society for his contributions to science during his Antarctic expeditions. Between 1921 and 1936 he explored regions in the Arctic, including Eastern Greenland and Svalbard (Norway). Charcot died in 1936 when the Pourquoi-Pas? was caught in a storm and wrecked off the coast of Iceland.
