James Cummins Bookseller

1890-1901.

Price: $6,500.00

About the item

Pen and ink or pencil on paper. 9 vols. Oblong 12mo, 4to. From Kootenay to Biskra and Beyond. Various bindings, spines titled in gilt. Condition generally fine, housed in three custom black morocco slipcases.

Item #318892

The hunting diaries of Charles G.R. Lee, a barrister from England who took a number of hunting expeditions in Turkey, Algeria, Canada, and the Pyrenees, during the period 1890-1901. These UNPUBLISHED hunting diaries are all written in a legible hand and the last hunting diary, Asia Minor 1901, includes accounts by Charles and his wife of the same hunting trip; the collection includes a wallet containing several holographic letters to a close friend, Alan Stenning, describing his hunting trips. Several of Lee’s heads are noted in turn of the century Records of Big Game compiled by Rowland Ward, including American Bighorn, European Muflon from Sardinia, and the Armenian Muflon from western Asia Minor. Comprising:
1) Kootenay 1890. Typescript, bound in vellum by Roger De Coverley with gilt rules on spine and at turn-ins, with marbled endpapers, t.e.g. Typed transcript of diary of hunting trip to the Canadian Rockies (eastern British Columbia) and south along the Kootenay river into northwest Montana, August 1890 to November 1890, based on letters to Alan Stenning, titled in pencil "Kootenay, 1890" at the beginning and with corrections throughout. 62 pp. (rectos only), with linen-backed map (24" x 31") of the Eastern part of British Columbia (1888) with extensive pencil annotations indicating the itinerary. With custom slipcase.
2) The Rockies 1892. 167 pp. T.J.&J. Smith diary in black morocco, spine titled in gilt. Pencil diary of hunting in the upper basin of the Flathead River in southeastern British Columbia. Sheep, goat, white tailed deer, and accounts of two bear hunts. With an extensive list of animals seen. A contemporary typed transcript is present.
3) Algeria 1895. 174 pp. Pencil diary, January and February 1895, after mouflon near El Kantara in the mountains near Biskra
4) The Pyrenees 1896. 122 pp., Pencil diary, mountainous travel after Chamois and Izard, September & early October 1896
5) Algeria 1897. 112 pp. Pencil account of hunting trip out of Biskra (northeastern Algeria, on the edge of the desert), 22 November to 30 December, with a full month in camp near El Hamman; with map showing the intinerary out of Biskra and a little memo book with word lists and inventory of gear, notes on Mannlicher rifle [Diaries 2-5 housed in custom solander box].
6) Sardinia 1898. 98 pp. black leather with pencil holder at side (empty) and sleeve at end (contains expense page from memorandum book). Note book and end papers marbled with last marbled page of note book missing 1 inch. 98 pp. diary of hunting trip to Sardinia from October 1898 to December 1898, written in pencil. One of his more successful trips – got seven heads. Pages at end of diary describe rifle (sighting), outfit for trip, itinerary in brief, and note on future trip to Turkey.
7) Asia Minor 1899-1900. 300 pp. Bound in grey bighorn sheepskin, red leather label on spine titled in gilt, with marbled end papers, a.e.g. Ddiary, written in pen, covering two stag hunting trips, November 1899 to January 1900 and 22 September 1900 to 29 October 1900. At the conclusion of each trip are detailed listings of what the author took, how much it weighed, and notes on what should be taken or done differently for the next trip. Also included is a day by day itinerary of the trips.
8) Asia Minor 1901. 78 pp. by C.G.R. Lee, 100 pp. by his wife Enid. Bound in red leather, spine titled in gilt, a.e.g. These two accounts of this hunting trip to Turkey in this single journey present quite different versions of what a hunting trip is like. Costs and other details of trip including clothing, staples, and day by day itinerary are in appendix. Trip dates: 18th September 1901 to 14th November 1901.
9) Travel Wallet with miscellaneous notes, ephemera, and correspondence. Full brown leather. Name and address in gilt on inside (original address lined out). Contains notepad with marbled covers; notepad contains lists of songs, composers and good singers (14 pp.) Sleeves at both ends of the wallet contain: One sleeve contains seven 4 to 6 page holograph letters to Alan Stenning in London, from Lee, with details of various trips (Turkey, Algeria), dated 1897 to 1900 and one post card from Turkey, dated 1899. Also contains a three page set of recipes (in French) for irish stew, boiled mutton and turnips, and caper sauce. The other sleeve contains a Northwest Territory (Canada) liquor permit, dated 1890, a customs permit for the passage of luggage, dated 1912, an address style booklet from Italian trip containing expenses, supplied, itinerary, addresses, baggage, and memo regarding future trips and another address style booklet from Pyrenees trip. [Diaries 6-9 housed in custom solander box].