[ John Barrow of the Admiralty. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Jno Barrow') to the explorer Captain William Parker Snow, praising him for his 'hard struggle to live by your Brains - the hardest of al struggles'.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. In a markedly difficult hand, Borrow explaining that he cannot write without discomfort. Apparently relating to a disagreement Snow has had with his landlord, who, according to Borrow, should have 'shewn some little compassion | It would do him good to give him this opinion from one who knows your honourable & upright demands and your hard struggle to live by your Brains - the hardest of all struggles'. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, Snow's 'unsettled life, his series of enthusiasms (including emigration, telegraphy, early closing of shops, and total abstinence), his disagreement (which spilled into print and the courts as well as into unpleasant accusation) with almost all in authority, and above all his obsession with the Franklin search, suggest mental disorder; and suffering from this he could not achieve success, despite his intelligence, talent as a writer, and skill as a mariner.'