The Kemp Letters
These letters were found during the renovation of the Kemp Estate during the 1950’s. The building suffered sever fire damage in the 1860’s with the entire east wing of the house laying derelict with restricted access for years to come. These letters were discovered inside an under-floorboard safe in Alexander’s office, the place where the fire is believed to have been started. Their recovery is considered nothing short of miraculous and provides a brief insight into Kemp and his life at the time.
Letter to Penelope Kemp FROM Alexander Kemp
Believed to be dated around 1856 not long after Alexander’s second voyage to the Skew — or as he called it “the Underlands.” The letter is addressed to his daughter Penelope Kemp who would have been around 11 years old at the time.
My Dearest Penelope,
I trust this letter finds you in good spirits and that the bucolic air of the countryside might have eased your condition since we last spoke. It is with great joy that I write to you now with news that the recent years’ misfortune is finally behind us.
As I have travelled this ever expanding globe, making significant discoveries and taming foreign wilderness, the memory of your beloved mother has ever been in my thoughts. Even so, such mourning ever deep, cannot quell the heart’s yearning for connection. Thus, I have found a new light, a guiding moon in this world’s endless night. You will know her by her English name: Lady Victoria. She is a woman of eminent beauty and a Princess moreover! She has me bewitched in a way only capable of wild women and their atavistic charms. Beyond that, for such concepts will be unknown to a young lady of propriety such as yourself, I am assured that Lady Victoria will become a mother to you and you shall be as you once were.
With the blessings of her kin we have joined in wedlock beneath a sea of stars and the watchful eye of her wild gods – yes, I have come to believe these things of late, though they remain no match for the benevolence of Christ. Fear not that I have forgotten our dear English traditions. It is my intention to bring Lady Victoria back to England and exchange vows anew, sanctified beneath the Holy light of the Lord in a venerable church, that our union may be recognized by all. I have sent instruction to your Aunt that you should have a new good dress for the occasion.
How I wish for us to be a family in Kemp Estate and soon it shall be more than a fancy. Your aunt’s estate is good for fresh air, but little else, and while Lady Victoria’s homeland is a world most wondrous, it is no place to make your debut – a fast approaching thing.
I anticipate our return to England with great excitement, though I cannot travel until the babe is born. I eagerly await the day when I can show you my many incredible discoveries, though look closely for they are sure to be quickly catalogued away into the private collection at the BSTCE. It is not prestige I seek, no, it is the awe and wonder I shall find in your eyes, the same as I saw etched in the gaze of your darling mother.
May the Almighty keep you safe and well until we are reunited, my dear Penelope. My love for you remains undying even as I embark upon these ventures into the far corners of the Earth.
Your Father,
Alexander Kemp
Letter to Alexander Kemp from the British Society of Travelled Countrymen and Explorers
A letter sent by the BSTCE to Alexander Kemp rejecting his specimens and terminating his membership. In recent times, these specimens have been retrieved and retested with modern technology. These advancements have allowed the BSTCE to rescind its previous stance and confirm the specimens as authentic. While they do share an uncanny likeness of the narwhal and death moth of our world, DNA testing shows clear Skew interference.
Mr. Alexander Kent,
The British Society of Travelled Countrymen and Explorers extends its formal greetings to you.
We have received and examined your contributions in accordance with their accompanying descriptions of origin and our own specialist team. It is our unfortunate duty to inform you that the authenticity of the said specimens has been found wanting.
In particular, the “unicorn horn” that you submitted for our consideration has been identified as a Narwhal (Monodon monoceros) tusk, a creature known to science and contained within our own collection. The “fairy wings” that you professed to have discovered have been conclusively determined to be the wings of the Death’s-head hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos), a species already known to entomologists of our Society.
The evident discrepancy between your assertions and the incontrovertible evidence we possess has led us to the conclusion that the specimens you have provided are, in fact, clear forgeries. Hence, we must communicate our decision to formally reject your contributions. Furthermore, we regret to inform you that your membership to the esteemed British Society of Travelled Countrymen and Explorers has been revoked, effective immediately and indefinitely.
This decision has not been taken lightly, Mr. Kent, but is a necessity born of the commitment to the highest principles of truth, integrity, and the rigorous pursuit of knowledge that underpins our institution. We sincerely hope that this incident may serve as an opportunity for reflection and that your future endeavours may bear the hallmarks of authenticity and veracity of which your letter of submission claimed.
Yours faithfully,
The Council of the British Society of Travelled Countrymen and Explorers
Letter to Charles Laurence from Alexander Kemp
A letter to Charles Laurence, a close friend of Alexander Kemp. The letter bemoans Alexanders current position in regards to his social standing, home-life and finances.
My Dear Charles,
It has been too long since I wrote you last, a mistake I do not intend to repeat. I would ask of your health and fortune, but I have heard of both from John Fredrickson. I am pleased to hear of your latest windfall, despite its nature, and pray for the quick healing of your legs.
My own health is well as always, but my circumstances are grave compared to your own. I suppose you have heard tell of the grievous blow to my standing as an explorer. I can scarcely endure the humiliation of having my credibility falsely tarnished.
Yet that is the least of my troubles. My household has become amok with quarrels. You may have heard that I have brought back a new bride from across the seas and a son also. I had hoped that these new additions would bring comfort to my daughter, but now I see the mind of women is as ever unruly as it was in Eden. Penelope refuses to acknowledge Lady Victoria as her new mother and has instead taken to unruliness, sneaking out of the house for hours on end. I fear she seeks the creatures I spoke of encountering during my expeditions. I lament the day I ever filled her impressionable mind with such notions. Is it a likely thing that, in her grief, such change to our family has driven her to madness?
Furthermore, I am plagued by growing suspicions regarding said new bride. I have begun to doubt her supposed exotic royal lineage and I suspect the interpreter who vouched for her may have been motivated by acquisitiveness rather than truth. I fear I have been deceived, my money cruelly swindled, that Lady Victoria is no more a princess than you or I, and that a reverse dowry is just as preposterous in her country as it is my own.
In my darkest moments, I have even contemplated presenting the wench as a foreign creature herself, much like the human zoos in the New World, in hopes I might recoup the funds I have expended upon her. But, for all my grievances, I must admit that my new wife does possess certain, shall we say, qualities of utility and indulgence. I am haunted, however, by doubts of her virtue. I suspect the maidenhood I had believed her to possess may also be a falsehood. Indeed, my supposed newborn son bears little resemblance to myself and I am unsure if he is all that similar to his mother either.
It is these disquieting concerns that drive me to implore your assistance, Charles. I humbly request that you might furnish me with the financial means to embark on another expedition to the Underlands, in a quest to bring back live creatures both fantastical and frightening, that will serve as irrefutable evidence of their own existence. I yearn to prove that the society’s hasty dismissal of my findings was a grave error and to redeem my tarnished reputation. I will return your investment threefold on my return, perhaps more should I reclaim that ridiculous dowry money, and I shall make it widely known that my great friend Charles Laurence was the benefactor of this pioneering voyage and its discoveries.
Yours in hopeful disarray,
Alexander Kemp
Letter to Alexander Kemp from Charles Laurence
A response from Charles Laurence. The proposed plan proved successful and Laurence, Kemp and Chester profited extensively from their private exhibition/botanical garden. Laurence and Chester later went on to sponsor other expeditions to the Skew, including a rescue party for Kemp after his final voyage was delayed in its return. Once home, Laurence and Chester refused to fund Kemp’s travels again as his condition was deemed unstable.
Alexander,
I was hopeful you would send word of your travels once you returned to England. It has indeed been too long.
I appreciate your condolences, but I confess to not being in need of them. I was not close to my uncle, in fact I found him rather poor company at the best of times and outright distasteful on every other occasion. As for my legs, there is no more painful and luxurious disease than that of gout. I think it suits me well.
I had heard of your incident with the BSTCE, but assumed it was an exaggeration. How disheartening to learn it is true. Even more disheartening to have to tell you that I cannot fund your requested voyage of redemption. My windful is still tied up in my uncle’s assets and numerous debtors. I have come to wonder if my inheritance was intended as a final blow rather than a parting gift.
However, let it not be said I am a poor friend. I have thought over your predicament and found a course I believe will alleviate your financial and familial issues.
The discoveries that the BSTCE rejected hold value to those with curious minds and a hunger for enrichment. I speak of a public exhibition. Perhaps, should you return with live specimens as you hope, a zoological garden would be in order. I hear these are most popular. At the very least, a modern approach to your expeditions will appeal to a wider pool of potential investors than the dusty archeologists and collectors you currently deal with.
I am in contact with a gentlemen by the name of Henry Chester, who’s father Harold Chester you may have heard of through the means of Chester Solicitors. He is an ambitious young man with high minded ideas of creating a legacy apart from the family name and a good contact for you. And perhaps a good match for your Penelope. Should you wish it, I could see to the managing of both this business proposal and a marital match in your absence. If it would be preferable for your household I might even stay at the Kemp property during your expedition, to oversee the welfare of your investments and ensure that propriety is at the forefront of any visitation from the Chesters.
As for your new bride, I profess to be unable to offer reputable advice with no wife of my own to draw upon for comparison. I encourage you to remain faithful to your Christian vows and stand firm by her in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer, better and worse. And while worse may be dominating your lives as of late, know the Lord blesses his faithful in this life and in heaven. As for your fears that the child is not of your blood, I would encourage you to embolden the virtue of forgiveness and mould him in your likeness as God has done unto us.
I hope you find some sense and solace in my advice and I await your verdict.
Sincerely,
Your friend
Charles Laurence