"... the more I see, the better satisfied I am that I am an American..." - photo 1
"... the more I see, the better satisfied I am that I am an American..." - photo 2

"... the more I see, the better satisfied I am that I am an American..."

Lot 37
22.04.2021 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 10 625
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 517683
Lot 37 | "... the more I see, the better satisfied I am that I am an American..."
Estimate value
$ 4 000 – 6 000
ROOSEVELT, Theodore (1858-1919). Autograph letter signed to "Bill" [likely William A. Gaston,] London 5 September 1881.

Four pages bifolium, 205 x 130mm (light scattered toning, minor split along one mailing fold top of left and right margins affixed to a mat). Housed in a frame to reveal pages on recto and verso.

A young Roosevelt scales the Matterhorn and the Jungfrau, reports on his brother's hunting exploits in India—and writes of his satisfaction "that I am an American." Roosevelt opens his letter to Gaston, recalling the "fun we have had together," including canoe trips in summer and show-shoeing in winter. The summer of 1881 had taken Roosevelt "through Europe, and through I have enjoyed it greatly, yet the more I see, the better satisfied I am that I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except or his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit." Roosevelt especially enjoyed Switzerland where he scaled the Matterhorn and the Jungfrau. "The latter is an ice mountain, while the former is so steep that no snow will stay on it. There were some English climbers there and one of the chief reasons I made the ascent was to show them that a Yankee could climb just as well as they could." He pronounced the Swiss guides "superb men, supple, sinewy fellows, very sure-footed nd almost tireless. I suppose that they could hardly be beaten on their own ground; but on ground that was new to both you and them, I would back you against any one of them, for any feat requiring skill, strength and endurance."

Roosevelt reports on his brother Elliot's exploits hunting in Asia, including elephants in India as well as bagging "five tiger, thirteen elk, and some deer, besides any quantity of goose, duck and partridge." At the time of writing, Elliot had moved on to Kashmir, where "all the work is done by fair stalking with the rifle, and he has already bagged eighteen brown bear, five ibex, twenty one chamois, and three mule deer! It must be some fun to be out in such a place as that." He closes asking if Bill had read the novels of Charles Kingsley (including Westward Ho!) and offering to send them along if he hadn't."

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