LETTERS OF MY BROTHER JOHN'S LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE. Compiled by The Irish Fly Fishing and Game Shooting Museum.

2012 1st edition. 4to (214 x 276mm). Pp200. B/w photographs throughout. Black faux-leather boards, upper board titled in gilt, spine untitled.

This book presents a facsimile of the hand-written text of the letters of John Lee, together with contemporary photographs and postcards". Some years ago, I had the good fortune to meet Paddy Mooney proprietor of The Horseshoe Inn, Abbeyleix, himself a collector of memorabilia. He had in his possession a unique document about a Kildare man, John Lee, who shot game for a living in an important period of Canadian history, 'The Klondike Gold Rush.' In 1896 gold was found in the Yukon. John Lee set off from his home in Monasterevin, Co. Kildare, to make his fortune. We know from his letters that he did not make his living from panning for gold, instead he survived by using his hunting skills to hunt game to feed the miners and their families. I am sure that when he was writing home to his family, little did he think that he would be responsible for the preservation of documents and photographs that open a window into the day-to-day life in one of the most beautiful but harsh environments on Earth. The letters John sent home to his family were transcribed into a journal by his brother Ned and these are reproduced in this book unedited".