Add MS 51024-51035

SCOTT DIARIES. Vols. I-XII. Sledging and base diaries; 1910-1912. Published (except for 51031) in Scott's Last Expedition, ed.

L. Huxley, 1913, but with the omission of criticisms of other members of the Expedition and certain public figures; examples of comments omitted are in R. Pound, Scott of the Antarctic, 1966, passim. Scott's last three sledging diaries, 51033-51035, were found with the party's bodies nearly eight months later, on 12 Nov. 1912. 51035 includes at f. iii Scott's note, 'Diary can be read by finder to ensure recording of records etc but Diary should be sent to my widow' and at its end (reversing the volume, ff. 42, 42b, vi) his signed 'Message to the Public', giving his account of the causes of the by then unavoidable disaster, printed in L. Huxley, op. cit., ii, pp. 605-7. 51035 also included Scott's last letters to individuals, subsequently torn out and posted to them in accordance with his instructions on f. 2; they are printed in L. Huxley, ii, pp. 597-604. The letter to Sir J. M. Barrie, of which an abridged version was printed, ibid., ii, pp. 598-9, is now Add. MS. 46272; it was published in full in J. Dunbar, J. M. Barrie, 1970, pp. 199-200.