ADMIRAL ROBERT E. PEARY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 10/16/1895 - HFSID 24338

ROBERT E. PEARY. ALS: "R.E. Peary", 1p, 5¾x8¾ ruled sheet. New York City, 1895 October 16. To his lecture agent, James B. Pond. Begins: "My dear Major". In full: "Your letter in regard to pictures of Mrs. Peary & the baby & myself is at hand. Mrs. Peary has steadily declined to allow the baby's picture to be published, so that will be out of the question. How she feels in regard to her own picture I do not know but will write her & if she has no objection will send a copy to you. In regard to the subject of our recent interview, I will say that I have decided not to attempt any lecturing this season. I have too much other & more congenial work to attend to. With best regards to Mrs. Pond, I am Sincerely". In the year of this letter, Peary concluded his second expedition to Greenland (1893-1895), reaching Independence Fjord in the Spring of 1895. Peary had been accompanied by his wife, Josephine, on the trip, on which their daughter, Marie, was born in 1893. ROBERT EDWIN PEARY (1856-1920) became a Civil Engineer in the U.S. Navy in 1881, and in that capacity explored Greenland in 1886 on the first of his seven polar expeditions. On July 17, 1908, after three unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole, he set out on another polar expedition. On April 6, 1909, he and a small party, including his assistant, Matthew Henson, and four Inuit, became the first to reach the North Pole. Although another American, Frederick A. Cook, had claimed to have reached the Pole five days later, Cook's claim was later refuted. In 1911, the year he retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral, Congress officially recognized Peary's achievement. His wife, JOSEPHINE DIEBITSCH PEARY (1863-1955) accompanied her husband on three voyages to the Polar regions and made two trips to Greenland to meet him upon his return from explorations. On September 12, 1893, she gave birth to the couple's daughter, Marie Ahnighito (later Mrs. Edward Stafford), whose middle name was in honor of the Eskimo woman who made the first fur suit for "The Snow Baby". Mrs. Peary, who wrote several successful books about her travels with her famous husband, is buried beside him in Arlington National Cemetery. JAMES B. POND (1838-1903), who began his speaker management career with the Redpath Lyceum Bureau, started his own agency in New York City in 1879 and was the nation's premier lecture agent for the next 20 years. His clients included other explorers, including Richard E. Byrd, Vilhjalmur Stefannson and Henry Stanley, as well as such notables as Mark Twain, Henry Ward Beecher, James Whitcomb Riley, P.T. Barnum and Booker T. Washington. Lightly creased. Receipt stamp at upper left touches 3 words of writing. Slightly soiled, nailhead-size stain near but not touching 1 word. Fine condition.