PATAGONIAN

For the context see Gardiner's entry in the Oxford DNB. Gardiner's disastrous last mission to Patagonia ended with his death on 6 September 1851, as the last of the seven missionaries to starve to death on Picton Island. No other copy of the present item has been traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Well printed. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, and folded several times.

The card is printed in brown ink on one side of an 18 x 13 cm piece of thin beige card. An 8.5 x 6 cm black and white photograph has been tipped in within a printed square. In fair condition, with signs of age and wear. The text, in capitals, reads 'Santa Claus in Patagonia. | [Photograph.] | With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year from Mr. & Mrs. A. F. Tschiffely. | 1938 - 1939.' The photograph shows the supposed subject of the card, a Patagonian native with white hair and beard, in morth-eaten jumper, clutching a bottle of Bols as he stares at the camera.

8vo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Thirty-two lines of text. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. It is only now that he is able to thank him for the 'bon accueil que m'a fait Monsieur Benard grâce à votre Gracieuse recommendation'. Benard has lent him 'quelques ouvrages', including 'ceux que vous aviez bien voulu <?> sur la petite note'. He has not had time to look at them, 'pressé que j'etais tout d'abord de vous remettre ceux que vous m'avez bien voulu prêter'. He has not been able to 'les compulser', but has 'sommairement lu le contenu qui je l'espere me suffira'.

The piece relates to 'the death by starvation of Commander A. Gardiner and the whole of the party sent out by the Patagonian Missionary Society in September 1850, to Picton Island, the southern extremity of America'. '3 columns, each 13½ inches by 2¾, attached to a piece of grey paper, and a fourth column, 3¾ inches by 2¾, attached to another piece. Discoloured and with minor spotting but in good condition overall. The article consists exclusively of transcriptions of two letters from Captain W. H. Morshead, H.M.S.