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Gilson, Julius Parnell : Autographed Letter Signed - "J. P. Gilson"

Original letter handwritten and signed in black ink on stationery of the "Department of Manuscripts. British Museum, London: W.C." Dated December 17, 1914. 4 3/4" x 7 1/4." One leaf folded in half and written on two sides. Unpaginated, two pages, complete. One horizontal fold line at center; may be original. Paper and handwriting are very clean and intact except for slight wrinkling in the upper-right corner and a few other wrinkles. A Fine copy. Julius Parnell Gilson (1868-1929) was a librarian and paleographer who worked at the British Museum of London for thirty-five years. In this letter, Gilson writes his findings about a specific journal to a patron, "Dear Sir, I am afraid that I can help you to nothing more than conjecture as to the author of Mr. Turnbull's journal of Chatham. Elimination of [officers?] mentioned by name does not leave many persons of crew likely to have the education required to write it and my assistant Mr. Milne, who has read the journal carefully, points out one or two phrases slightly suggesting the surgeon e.g. the mention of the 'septum of the nose' (p. 132). The writer was (like Puget) one of the officers who accompanied Vancouver on a visit to [Maquinna?] but I do not know of any list of these. Puget once mentions surgeon Walker as recommending the serving out of oranges as an anti-scorbutic (add. 17548, &. 110) at San Salvador. It might be possible to ascertain if this is mentioned in the journal. Yours faithfully, J. P. Gilson, Keeper of MSS. Possibly there may be other material at the Public Record Office." The journal in question is referred to by this name, "A New Vancouver Journal." The journal was kept aboard on one of Captain George Vancouver's vessels, the armed tender HMS Chatham, during his exploration of the Puget Sound region. The journal was written between October 1741 and February 1794 and is attributed to the Chatham's clerk Edward Bell, the Chatham's surgeon William Walker, or both. In an article of the Washington Historical Quarterly (January 1915, vol. 6, no. 1), which published parts of A New Vancouver Journal, author Edmond S. Meany confirms that Bell or Walker were the only candidates on board the ship to have the education required to write the journal. Meany also refers to the same phrase in the journal that Gilson had pointed out, "septum of the nose," which furthers the idea that Walker wrote the journal. However, other online sources appear to credit Bell as being the sole and definitive author of A New Vancouver Journal while others credit both Bell and Walker. The "Mr. Turnbull" in Gilson's letter is Alexander H. Turnbull of Wellington, New Zealand, who was an owner of the journal. Turnbull was an avid book collector and founded the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1919 which later became a subsidiary of New Zealand's National Library. A New Vancouver Journal still resides in the Alexander Turnbull Library to this day.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Collectible-Fine. Binding: No Binding

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