This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/12/2023
[BYRD, Richard Evelyn (1888-1957)]. A large archive of photographs and ephemera relating to Byrd’s first and second Antarctic expeditions.
Consisting of 68 large format photographs (a complete set issued by the B.E.A. with their descriptive labels and stamps on versos); an original photograph and negative featuring Byrd’s ship docked on Lake Michigan during the Chicago’s World Fair in 1933; a 1929 program for the first expedition at The Savoy; and a typed letter signed (“R.E. Byrd”), 10 May 1933. Two of the large format photographs are signed by Harold I. June who was an aviator and explorer that accompanied Byrd on his first Antarctic expedition. June was one of three crew members that went collecting specimens from a newly discovered mountain range but went missing after 10 days after katabatic winds blew their plane away leaving the men stranded. Byrd launched a rescue mission on 18 March 1929, successfully locating the men who were found clinging to life inside of a shredded tent. One of the photographs is the iconic image of a flag-raising at Little America, which June inscribed in the lower corner “Raising flag after 4 months of darkness” and draws an arrow pointing to himself in the photo.