Beschreibung:

Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912)] Edward Thomas WILSON. A collection of four autograph letters signed to his daughter Lilian ('My dearest Lil'), Westal, Cheltenham, 22-28 March 1913, 16 pages, small 8vo ; [ and ] an autograph transcription by E.T. Wilson of one of the last letters written from Antarctica by his son (E.A.Wilson) to his wife Oriana, on 3 pages of a bifolium with, on the fourth page, a transcription of a poem by J. Riley, 4 pages, small 8vo An important series of letters from Wilson's father to Lilian, written around the first anniversary of the death of Wilson in the Antarctic. The father takes comfort from his son's life and character: 'A sad Eastertide this is for us - but oh how much we have to be thankful for - The memory of such a life & so near our own is an untold comfort & blessing. Ted was a Christian Saint & Hero if ever one was.' Praising Wilson's wife Oriana: 'She was worthy of Ted as few could ever have been & what a blessing she has been to him', and reporting both what she had written: 'Her account of the Scene in the tent got from Dr Atkinson was pathetic beyond words. Ted lay perfectly still. Dr A thinks he simply fell asleep... Scott had got out of his bag & his arm was round Ted. They were kindred souls & fast friends those two', and enclosing a transcript of Wilson's letter to her: 'Life has been a struggle for some weeks now on this return journey from the Pole so much so that I have not been able to keep my diary going. Today may be the last effort. Birdie & I are going to try & reach the depot 11 miles N. of us & return to this tent where Capt Scott is lying with a frozen foot.' Wilson's father also mentions the memorial service at Cheltenham College Chapel as well as arrangements for meeting the returning expedition. [ With :] Edward Thomas WILSON. an autograph envelope addressed to 'Dr. Edward A. Wilson/British Antarctic Expedition/Cape Evans/McMurdo Sound/Victoria Land/Antarctic', cancelled twice, Cheltenham 20 October and Lyttelton 23 November 1911. (Contents lacking). [ And :] a 5pp. pamphlet Memorial Service for Edward Adrian Wilson .. and for his leader, Robert Falcon Scott, and for his other comrades, ...Oates, ...Bowers, ...Evans, On, or about, the Anniversary of their Death, which overtook them in the Antarctic. Cheltenham College Chapel, Thursday 27 March 1913. 8° (21.5 x 13.6cm). [ And :] Edward Adrian WILSON Reports on the Collections of Natural History made in the Antarctic Regions during the voyage of the "Southern Cross"... Notes on Antarctic Seals. Collected during the expedition . London: 1912. 8° (24.8 x 15.6cm.) 14pp. 5 chromolithographic plates by Henry Gronvald after Wilson, printed by West, Newman. Original drab paper wrappers (small tears to backstrip and outer margins). A rare offprint of Wilson's artistic contribution to the Southern Cross Reports . The work was undertaken by Wilson following the death of Nicolai Hanson ('the Zoologist best qualified to have written an account of the Antarctic Seals') and before Wilson's first visit to the Antarctic. PROVENANCE: Lilian Rendall (Edward Adrian Wilson's sister) and thence by descent to the present owner. (8)