Domestic Translations
Every fall Christie’s holds an Exploration and Travel auction. The prices are always always out of reach but some years I buy the catalog so I can moon over glass slides, books, and impedimenta. No catalog this year but some highlights.
Raft of Amundsen gear this year: suitcase, mug, bayonet, sunglasses, and a useful looking matchbox holder. The matchbox holder would set me back about four months worth of groceries. A less useful looking box or the property taxes? Hard to decide.
I see they’re also auctioning off Cherry-Gerrard’s blankie and several lots of his books, the Kiplings being the most tempting. Books or heat this winter? 
This year I find myself longing for these blackwork maps–exploration rendered in domestic needlework by an anonymous woman who carefully read the exploration accounts. If only we could forgo food for three years.
