ARCHIVE of 24 Christmas and New Year Greeting Cards

Letter. Near Fine. Mostly undated though a few are dated from 1933 to 1950. Size ranges from about 4" x 5" to 6" x 11" with some printed on stiff, heavy stock. All of the cards feature personal covers from photographs to drawings with subject matter including fish and birds, Beebe's famous bathysphere, home views, etc., many with a humorous slant. Seventeen of the 24 cards are SIGNED as "Will" often with additional handwritten greetings. There are also 9 cards from Mrs. William Beebe, the author Elswyth Thane, SIGNED just by her and likely dating from after her husband's death in 1962. There are also 3 cards SIGNED by Jocelyn Crane, Beebe's research assistant. All of the cards were sent to Faith Dennis.

William Beebe (1877-1962) was a naturalist, oceanographer, ornithologist, and an executive of the New York Zoological Society. With Otis Barton, he was the first to use the bathysphere, a deep-sea diving device, using it to set a dive record of 3,028 feet in 1934 that was not broken until 1949. Beebe wrote over 800 articles and 24 books on natural history. His wife, Elswyth Thane, was a romance novelist. Jocelyn Crane was William Beebe's research assistant and former assistant director (1952-1962) and director (1963-1966) of the New York Zoological Society.