Included is the mailing envelope that came with the letter.  Letters written aboard "The Snark" are very uncommon.  Most were thrown away. See the letter by Russ Kingman below. I was lucky to find this one about 20 years ago. 

I wrote to my friend Jack London authority, Russ Kingman, in Glen Ellen who, at the time,  owned The Jack London Bookstore in Glen Ellen, CA many years ago, and he mentioned that he had never encountered such a bulky letter. A copy of the letter from Russ Kingman is shown below. Some parts were personal and are not shown. The parts that relate to the letter are shown. 

This letter also was published in The Book of Jack London, on pages 168 and 169 in volume two. The published letter as it appears in the book is shown below.

But--notice that some of the original letter that Jack London wrote while on The Snark is omitted from The Book of Jack London! Interesting.

The letter has some tear marks on most of the pages where it was folded along the horizontal axis, which are not apparent in some of the photos. There are some tears along the vertical folds also, that show up better in the photos. Pages 11 and 12 show center wear and tears along the folds as they were the outside half pages that shrouded the inner half pages. However, be it noted that the pages are intact and were scanned page by page. 

Each page was folded twice, so there are four sections of each page. Each fold has thus become a weak part of the paper and is therefore fragile. All this was then stuffed into the small envelope shown below . Note the dates on the letter and envelope. On November 27, 1907 Jack London was on The Snark at Lat. 5 degrees 41' North. Long. 126 degrees 2' West. On Dec. 27, 1907 they arrived at Papeete Bay - Tahiti at noon. On Dec. 28, 1907 Jack London discovers that his financial affairs back at the Glen Ellen ranch are in shambles so they decide to return to Oakland on the ship MARIPOSA which sailed on the 13th. They sail on that date to San Francisco. On January 27th, 1908, Jack London shops in San Franscisco. Charmian London shops in Oakland. 

The date on the envelope shows the postmark of Jan 25, 1908, which was the day the Londons did in fact arrive in San Francisco. The letter shows a Carmel-By-The-Sea postmark of Jan 27, 1908. (On the verso of the envelope there is a stamped date of Jan. 26, 1908 Carmel.)

On January 28, 1908 they arrive back at Glen Ellen and the home on a 6:30 AM train. The envelope is addressed in Charmian London's hand.

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What is needed is an expert paper conservationist to reinforce the tears along the folds. I just never really had the time, nor inclination, and the letter has been kept in a folder for nearly twenty years by myself. 

A truly wonderful piece of Jack London material that gets into the brain of this tragic genius who died too young. He talks about dolphin (the fish, not the mammals) and how he can't get them out of his mind and the difficulties of navigation. A letter not just for the average collector but a special collector of Jack London. 

What happened to The Snark? That was always a mysterious question. Even Russ Kingman wondered about that one. He once handed me a piece of wood that he said was part of  The Snark.  I once had a letter saying that it was scuttled and used for spare parts or something to that effect. I sold that piece of interesting information many years ago, and never made a copy of it. So, it no longer exists. The letter is out there somewhere.

NOTE: The letter for sale shown here is sold under the condition that that I reserve the right to publish a facsimile edition of it at a future date from my scans of the said  letter shown below and would retain the copyright to that publication in the form as shown in a holographic state. If this is a problem for you, please do not bid this item. Thank you,  John Anthony Miller.

---John Anthony Miller at Phantom Bookshop in Ventura, CA.


Each of these pages is one half sheet of paper. The Londons wrote and typed many letters  on
half sheets of paper measuring about 9 inches by 6 inches each.

There are 12 half sheets in this letter and the original mailing envelope. Each piece of paper shown
below was folded twice. Once across and then once down the center.
The horizontal folds may not show up clearly in some of the scans below. Most of the HORIZONTAL folds
have become weakened prior to my possession and the paper separated along the quadrants.
This has also occurred to some of the vertical paper folds as well. However, each piece of paper is
intact and was carefully scanned.  The last two pages (11 and 12) show the most wear,
as they were on the outside of the other sheets.

The pages and the ENVELOPE are shown in the scale they are. Notice how small the envelope is. Please also
note the date on the letter and the envelope. The envelope addresses are in the hand of Charmian London.
All these pages were folded and put into the envelope.  The envelope shows evidence of "stuffing" also, or
containing a lot of paper within, as the edges of the envelope show signs of "buckling." Also please see the dates
of mailing, etc. described above.

Letter from Jack London authority, the late great Russ Kingman, about the above letter:

 

The letter as it appears in The Book of Jack London, volume two: