Beschreibung:

Alexander Hepburne Macklin (1889-1967) Correspondence and transcription of an interview with Margery and James Fisher (authors of Shackleton (1957)), comprising 19 carbon copies of letters, autograph drafts and typescripts by Alexander Macklin, and letters and postcards by Margery Fisher (28) and James Fisher (1), 8 September 1955 - 29 November 1957, together approximately 101 pages, various sizes ; with a typed transcripts of conversations between Macklin and James Fisher on 12 & 13 March, with extensive annotations by Macklin, approximately 62 pages, 4to . Together with: Margery & James Fisher Shackleton . London: Barrie, 1957, 8°. Original cloth gilt, dust-jacket. First edition. Presentation letter from the authors tipped in; [ and ] Typescript of a broadcast adapted by the Fishers from their biography, 48 pages, folio . PROVENANCE: Alexander Hepburne Macklin (1889-1967), and thence by descent to the present owners. A correspondence casting light on Macklin's significant contribution to the second major biography of Shackleton. The correspondence focuses on the Quest expedition, in which Macklin was much closer to Shackleton than on the Endurnace ; of particular interest are discussions of Shackleton's health in the months before his death (when Macklin was present) and of the degree and effect of his alcohol consumption (the biographers agree upon the phrase 'his use of alchohol as a medicine'); there are also explanations of the explorer's approach to raising financial support for the Quest . The transcript of a conversation with Macklin is full of revealing memories of Shackleton on both expeditions, and also in North Russia. The Fisher biography relied extensively upon Macklin's memories and archives, in particular upon his archive of the Quest voyage; the correspondence hints at the comparative difficulties in gathering material from other sources, in particular Cecily Shackleton, with 'her complete cult round her father's memory'.