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Papers of Sir Ranulph Fiennes relating to the Trans Globe expedition of 1979-1982 including stores book containing planned sledge loads, plans for huts and lists of stores; photographs, including of polar training camp and the expedition ship 'Benjamin Bowring'; plan of sledge loads; photocopy of personal navigation notebook; Nautical Almanac, 1980 and 1982; maps including the planning map for the North West passage, map of Arctic showing route towards North Pole on preliminary expedition in 1977, and map used for the Antarctic crossing; typescript of To the Ends of the Earth by Fiennes and press cuttings.

Library Manuscripts comprise manuscript items donated to the Royal Geographical Society. They are chiefly single files or a small number of items which are not large enough to warrant forming a special collection. The papers include, astronomical and meteorological observations, diaries, correspondence, notes, conference papers, reports, articles, photographs, sketches and maps covering all aspects of geography and exploration across the globe and date from 1691 to 1994. Highlights include:

Memorandum on a map of South America, by John Arrowsmith.

Papers of Maj R A Bagnold, 1929-1933, comprising positions, routes and heights in Egypt and letters from Bagnold.

Letters from Sir John Barrow to Lord Melville, 1935-1945 and letters to Barrow from Murzuq, 1822 and J D Dundas, 1818.

Papers of Dr Heinrich Barth, 1846-1952, letters and copy of a sketch map of Timbuktu.

Notes on heights of mountains in America by Capt F W Beechey, 1826.

Letters from the King of Siam to Sir John Bowring, 1855.

Letters relating to the British Arctic Air Route Expedition, 1928-1932.

Correspondence and reports of the British Ornithologists' Union Expedition to New Guinea, 1908-1911.

Papers of G Wyman Bury, 1913-1918.

Papers of Capt R F M Crozier, 1836-1906.

Account of a journey to Lhasa and central Tibet by Sarat Chandra Das, 1902.

Papers of Lt James Barker Emery, chiefly relating to Mombassa, 1822-1835.

Plan and elevation of the Screw Yacht FRAM as reconstructed in 1898.

'Narrative of a small party of HMS LEVEN under command of Lt C W Browns sent to explore the Zambesi by one of the survivors, a native of Angola', by Antonio Jozi, 1823.

Journal of Joseph Kaye's voyage from London to Genoa.

Papers and maps relating to William Kennish's exploration in South America for a canal route.

Papers relating to the Kufara expedition led by H W C J Penderel and P A Clayton to Gilf Kebir, 1933.

Papers relating to the Livingstone Award, 1875-1970.

H B Molesworth's diary of a journey to Mokalla (Mukalla), 1893.

Letters from Sir John Morrison to Henry Dundas and others concerning Persia and trade with Persia, 1783-1792.

Narrative of a shipwreck on the southern shores of Arabia by B A R Nicholson, 1836.
Correspondence of Walter Oudney, 1821-1823.

Papers of Adm Sir W E Parry, relating to the Arctic, 1819-1823.

Papers relating to the Pitcairn Islands, 1831-1885.

Annotated 'Code of Naval Signals' belonging to Adm Sir Home Popham, 1799.

Letter from Sultan Husain Sufrari, 1708.

Account of explorations on the coast of Patagonia by B Villarino, 1782.

Travel journals of J Washington, chiefly in South America, 1822-1829.

Letters to A F R Wollaston, 1896-1926.

Journals, charts and other papers relating to A H Ninnis' commission as purser in SS AURORA on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1916 and the Relief Expedition, 1916-1917.

The papers include diaries of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition, 23 Dec 1914-12 Feb 1917, with a single volume typescript summary of the diaries; notebook entitled 'The Log of Taroona Camp, H E Wild and A H N with the 26 and stores for dog teams' including notes of equipment and stores for the dog teams; list of the dogs' names and a journal headed 'RMS Ionic, Hobart, Ocean Quay', 31 Oct-24 Dec 1914; copies of letters from Ninnis including to Ernest Shackleton, 6 Jan-5 Feb 1920 and to John Lachlan Cope, 9 Jun 1920; press cuttings, 1919-1920; papers reviewing Antarctic exploration achieved and proposals for another expedition under J L Cope in TERRA NOVA, for 1923; printed prospectus of Cope's Antarctic expedition; Ninnis' certificate of discharge made out at Wellington, New Zealand, Feb 1917; three large charts titled 'Map of the Antarctic East Longitude 150°-180° showing drift of SY Aurora', 1931 (the three are similar but two have small insets of landscape sketches); small chart entitled 'Map of the Bay of Whales', from a survey by Blackburn and Coman, Byrd Antarctic expedition, 1929-1930, with a second sketch map showing the route of Byrd's polar flight; three volumes of uncorrected typescript of High Latitude by J K Davis.

Papers of Thomas Howard Molyneux including Molyneux's journal of a survey of the Dead Sea, 1847 with a transcript by E O Eriksen and copies of notes and a map by Molyneux and lists of soundings in the Dead Sea.

Papers of Sir Kenneth Mason on the Himalayas including copy of his journal on the Shaksgam expedition, 1926; copy of letter from Mason to F V Thompson, Mussoorie about a stereo plotter used in India, 3 May 1914; correspondence, 1927-1940 on the Karakoram map; calculation of rectangular co-ordinates for Shaksgam stereographic survey by A R Hinks and cuttings from the Geographical Journal relating to the Himalayas, 1927-1935.

Pre-publication duplicated typescript, by C G C Martin entitled 'Malawi - A study of maps and surveys'.

Papers of Sir Harry Johnston including diary of an expedition, Rio del Ray, Cameroon, 1887, with four printed maps of the region attached; sketch and notebook, Nyasaland, 1893; sketch book, North Africa and photocopied correspondence of Johnston with members of his family, 1866-1926 and copies of six portrait photographs of Johnston.

Papers of George Holland including cartographer's notebooks and correspondence with Brian Moser, 1962, about a map of the Rio Piraparana.

Papers of Rev George Grenfell including two letters to the Rev Lawson Forfeitt from Birmingham 9 Aug 1901 and from Lualaba river, 24 May 1903 and two notebooks containing sketches for a map of the Congo, its tributaries and Lake Leopold, 1886-1888.

Correspondence and other papers concerning the planning, personnel, equipment, expenditure, photographs, food and natural history collections of the expeditions to Mount Everest, 1921-1938, including a small notebook containing autographs of the porters of the 1924 expedition; printed leaflet: 'Joint Meeting of RGS and Alpine Club to receive reports of Mt Everest Expedition of 1924'; printed order of service for service held in memory of Mallory and Irvine; postcard sent by John Noel to Mrs Fielding, with Mt. Everest stamp, 1924; letter to the Dalai Lama to Brigadier General C.G. Bruce, 5 Nov 1922; passport issued by the Prime Minister of Tibet, with translation and seal, 1922; letter from the Dalai Lama to Major F.M. Bailey, 1 Jun 1922; Panwana issued by Prime Minister of Tibet to Dzongpens of Kampa etc. for provision of transport and supplies to Mt. Everest expedition; Prime Minister of Tibet’s order to Dzongpens and headmen of Phari etc, with translation and seal; unidentified Tibetan letter with envelope; printed booklet, 'Ascent of Everest' 1953 – the programme for the first performance of the film 'Conquest of Everest'; folder of correspondence relating to the Everest Map, 1957-1960, correspondents include Charles Evans, Norman Hardie, Erwin Schneider, J.C. Bartholomew, Gen R. Llewellyn Bowen, Professor R. Finsterwalder and H.F. Milne; notes describing the stones brought from Everest; letter from George Lowe to Lord Hunt, 29 Feb 1980 with comments on the finding of Maurice Wilson’s body by E. Shipton and Dan Bryant in 1935 and the press reports published March 1980 on a lady’s shoe and a body seen in later years; volume of newscuttings 1922-1923 on Mt. Everest; menu, signed by members of the 1933 expedition and reproduction of group photo of members; letters to Sir Christopher Summerhayes from members of the 1950s Everest expeditions, 1951-1954 and letters regarding the Times code; 9 items retrieved from the body of George Mallory by the 1999 Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition; 13 photographs; some taken by Doug Scott and others taken during official receptions for Hillary and Everest team, 1953-1954; programme for 'Conquest of Everest'; article from Punch, 29 May 1968 regarding Everest journalists' and souvenir menu card of a reception and luncheon of the King and Queen of Nepal in London, 18 Oct 1960 and related invitations and seating plans.

Papers of Sir Charles Frederick Arden-Close, 1934-1944, comprise a copy of 'The International Congress of Geography', Warsaw, 1934; three scrapbooks of letters, notes and memos from 1927-1930, the period when Close was President of the RGS; one volume of papers on the Anglo-German Nyasaland/Tanganyika Boundary Commission, 1898; proof of a review written by Close for Nature on the RGS publication of English county maps, 1933; bound volume of printed papers, news cuttings and a photo of the 'centenary meeting' showing Close and the Prince of Wales all marking the centenary celebrations of the RGS, 1930; bound diary illustrated with photographs of the survey of the Niger Kamerun Boundary, 1895 and papers referring to the National Atlas Project 1940-1941.

Papers of Gertrude Caton-Thompson, 1935-1985, comprise artwork including preliminary drawings of maps, an offprint of an article 'Lake Moeris, re-investigations and some comments' by G Caton Thompson, E W Gardner and S A Huzayyin from Bulletin de l'Institut d'Egypte, T. XIX, 1936-1937 and photocopy of article 'Recent geological work in the Faiyun...' by O H Little from Bulletin de l'Institut d'Egypte, T. XVIII 1935-1936; aerial photo taken autumn 1938 by US pilot prospecting for oil, showing drainage pattern on edge of high plateau between Mukalla and Wadi Hadhramaut; Watercolour by Edith Hughes of the Fayum depression and preliminary drawing of map/sections of Wadi 'Amd at Hureidha, prepared for plate LXXII in the book Tombs and Moon Temple of Hureidha published in 1944.

Papers of The British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1865-1952, comprise committee Minute Book of Section E (Geography and Ethnology), 1865-1873; correspondence of the geodetic committee of Section A, 1917-1919; minutes and correspondence of a committee for the making of a popular map of the British Isles, 1921-1947; minutes, notes and correspondence of the geographical glossary committee, 1950-52; photocopies of papers resulting from the work of a committee appointed in 1947 to 'collect of the revival of Geography in the British Isles dating from the later years of the nineteenth century'. (The papers provide biographical details about academic geographers.)

Papers of Jean-Denis Barbier du Bocage, 1790-1815, comprise a collection of notes relating to his 'Atlas du voyage d'Anacharsis', Paris, 1790, also other notes, maps, letters, sketches, mainly on Egypt and Bosnia, c 1810-1815, including notes by others such as Spencer Stanhope.

Papers of Col George Adam Beazeley with photographs and maps interspersed throughout including papers relating to Kashmir; papers entitled "My experiences", 1900-1901 and "My Somaliland Diary".

Papers of David Bannister and Carl Moreland, 1987, comprise the pre-publication typescript of Antique Maps, 1983.

Papers of John Frederick Baddeley, 1859-1926, including description of a journey from Aigun to Tsitsikar in 1910; papers on the Amoor [sic] railway; material for a book on the Amoor river; papers relating to the Russian Far East; a book in Russian "Journey on the Amur" published in 1859 and a small notebook containing hand-drawn maps of the river.

Miscellaneous papers, largely photocopies relating to the Award of the Argentine-Chile Boundary Court of Arbitration, 1966: these include drafts of the report, submissions and other material from the two parties, photographs and maps of the disputed area. The sixth folder contains Sir L Kirwan's personal impressions of the field mission.

Papers of Michael Corbet Andrews, 1909-1934, comprising notes, photographs, tracings and drawings made by M C Andrews from 1909-1934. They refer to early cartographers, calendars, calendar staves, medieval and Sixteenth Century maps of the world with particular attention to the placenames of Scotland and Ireland. This collection notably includes calendars and almanacs; calendars including notes on lunar notations; correspondence notably concerning maps and calendars; descriptive notes on the work of cartographers; tracings and photographs of medieval maps; maps inlcuding Higden maps; photographs and photostats including maps of British Islands and Scotland. The collection also includes portolan charts and some County and medieval maps.