POLAR EXPLORATION Polar Exploration JONKERS RARE BOOKS 1 JONKERS RARE BOOKS POLAR EXPLORATION Polar Exploration EARLY ARCTIC EXPLORATION & THE SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN We are pleased to offer an exceptional collection of books on Polar Exploration, dating from the eighteenth century to the achievements In his history of the human urge to venture northward into unknown territory, Fridtjof of both Poles. The collection is particularly strong on the Heroic Nansen begins with antiquity. While the ancient world had “little more than a vague Age, including two pieces of Antarctic incunabula from Shackleton’s premonition of the north”, there was still comparatively little known when Constan- printing press, an original employment contract from the Nimrod ex- tine John Phipps set sail for the North Pole in 1773 (item 1). pedition and a fine copy of Shackleton’s account of that expedition, in the beautiful limited edition vellum binding. Each book has been selected for its exceptional condition, presence of a rare inscription By this time, however, voyages north were not out of necessity or chance like those or dustwrapper, and importance to the history of exploration. early journeys Nansen describes. Instead their aim was to discover and record at the behest of governments and kings. The first four books in the catalogue concern such The catalogue has been split into Arctic and Antarctic exploration, voyages in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the Arctic reaches of Northern and arranged chronologically by expedition in order to present each Europe, North America and Siberia. book in its context in the history of polar discovery. Orders will be taken at: In 1843, following a successful Antarctic voyage, HMS Erebus and Terror were pre- Jonkers Rare Books pared for an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage - a sea route from the 27 Hart Street Atlantic to the Orient. They left for Baffin’s Bay in 1845 led by Commander John Henley on Thames Franklin. After three years’ absence and following pleas from Franklin’s wife, search RG9 2AR expeditions, such as those documented in the following two items, were commis- 01491 576427 (within the UK) sioned. +44 1491 576427 (from overseas) Between 1848 and 1857 no fewer than forty-seven ships were sent to the Arctic to aid email: [email protected] the search. Though they failed to find Franklin, these expeditions mapped most of the website: www.jonkers.co.uk remaining Arctic shoreline, and finally discovered the Northwest Passage. Payment is accepted by cheque or bank transfer in either sterling or US dollars and all major credit cards. All items are unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic and as described. Any unsatisfactory item may be returned within ten days of receipt. All items in this catalogue may be ordered via our secure website. The website also lists over 3,000 books, manuscripts and pieces of artwork from our stock, as well as a host of other information. Cover Illustration: Frontispiece to Aurora Australis (1908), Item #20) 2 3 JONKERS RARE BOOKS POLAR EXPLORATION 1. A Voyage Towards The North Pole “ONE OF THE FINEST TRAVEL BOOKS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY” Undertaken At His Majesty’s Command 1773 2. Narrative Of The Arctic Land Expedition PHIPPS, Constantine John To The Mouth Of The Great Fish River And Along The Shores Of The Arctic Ocean, In The Years 1833, 1834, and 1835 Printed By W. Bowyer And J. Nichols, 1774. BACK, George First edition. 4to. Bound to style in recent quarter calf, lettered gilt, over green cloth boards. With the directions to the bookbinder leaf John Murray, 1836. present. Folding frontispiece and thirteen further folding plates, printed on thick paper in good impressions, including maps, panoramic First edition. Limited edition, being one of 250 copies printed on large paper. 4to. In a fine contemporary binding of half morocco over views, tables, diagrams and studies of flora and fauna. A very good copy, clean and fresh. Frontispiece trimmed to the edges of the map. marbled boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Frontispiece and fifteen further mounted plates on india paper after sketches by Back. [39278] £2,750 A fine copy, tall and clean with just the occasional spot or two to a couple of mounts. [39294] £3,750 The account of Phipps’s 1773 attempt “to test the theory that in the open sea the Arctic Ocean might be largely free of ice, and offer a route to the Pacific” A fine copy of what Howgego describes as “one of the finest travel books of the nineteenth century” and Hill as “one of the fundamental books on Arctic (ODNB). Though naturally unsuccessful in this aim, Phipps’s voyage had a wide scientific program, with detailed appendices recording the flora and fauna exploration”. Back was a great explorer-artist and the book combines a notable and extensive expedition of arctic regions with finely engraved drawings of Spitsbergen, as well as geological, meteorological and astronomical observations. illustrating its discoveries. Having reached the northern shore of Spitsbergen and attempting to proceed farther north, the expedition encountered “one complete impenetrable body” It records what began as a relief expedition for John Ross’s 1829 search for the Northwest Passage, and resulted in 7,500 miles of travel, including 1,200 of ice, putting to pasture the theory of the open polar sea. In spite of further attempts to nudge northward being thwarted by encounters with pack-ice, of discovery, finding the Great Fish River, and making important observations of the Aurora Borealis. He returned to England a hero of Arctic exploration, Phipps recorded a farthest north record of 80°48’N. “was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s gold medal, and was promoted by the Admiralty to the rank of captain on 30 September 1835, by order The voyage is also memorable for being the maiden voyage of Horatio Nelson. Then a fourteen-year-old midshipman, he “famously and dangerously in council—an honour that no other officer in the navy had received except William IV” (ODNB). attacked a polar bear in hopes of getting its skin for his father” (Books On Ice). Howgego II B3. Books On Ice 1.10. PROVENANCE: Walter Reid (original subscriber to the expedition); thence by descent to William Reid MD (his bookplate); Franklin Brooke-Hitching (his sale, 2014). 4 5 JONKERS RARE BOOKS POLAR EXPLORATION 3. Narrative Of An Expedition To The Polar Sea 4. A Polar Reconnaissance In The Years 1820, 1821, 1822, & 1823. Being The Voyage Of The Isbjorn To Novaya Zemlya In 1879 VON WRANGELL, Ferdinand; SABINE, Elizabeth MARKHAM, Albert Hastings James Madden, 1840. C. Kegan Paul, 1881. First edition in English. 8vo. Publisher’s blind stamped original First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s original blue cloth, lettered and dec- cloth, lettered gilt to the spine. Large folding map of Siberia in front orated in gilt and black. Publisher’s advertisement catalogue date pastedown pocket. A very good copy indeed, sometime neatly re- coded January 1881 bound to rear. Six engraved plates, four illus- backed and front hinge just starting, but a clean, fresh and hand- trations in the text and two folding maps to rear. A very good copy some copy. [39299] £600 indeed, with a shade of darkening to the spine and slight rolling to Translated from the German by Elizabeth Sabine. Ferdinand Von Wrangell’s the spine ends. [39301] £1,500 account of the Russian expedition that charted for the first time the North- Part-history of previous expeditions to the north-eastern archipelago of No- east coast of Siberia. The expedition then headed 250 kilometres north vaya Zemlya, and part-narrative of the 1879 expedition there joined by across pack ice in search of a rumoured tract of land off the Siberian coast, Markham, copies of the book in nice condition and in the original cloth reaching 77 degrees north. are uncommon. Howgego II W45. We have noted two states of the cloth binding. The present example and PROVENANCE: Blind stamps of the Royal College Of Surgeons In Ireland another state, which has “Reconnaissance” on the spine lettered sans serif, intermittently throughout the book. with a black roundel and a double ruled border to the upper cover. No precedence between the two can be established. 6 Number 4.7 JONKERS RARE BOOKS POLAR EXPLORATION 5. Additional Papers Relative To The Arctic Expedition Under The Orders Of Captain Austin And Mr William Penny AUSTIN, Horatio T.; PENNY, William Printed By George Edward Eyre And William Spottiswoode, 1852. First edition. Folio. In the original blue printed paper wrappers. Twenty-eight maps and charts, six of which are folding. An exceptionally well-preserved copy in the original wrappers. Minor fraying to the paper at the spine ends, and the front hinge neatly strengthened, but 6. Ten Months Among The Tents Of The Tuski With Incidents Of An Arctic Boat Expedition In Search Of Sir John Franklin, As Far As The Mackenzie River, And Cape Bathurst. nevertheless a remarkably fresh example of a rare report most often encountered rebound. Housed in a custom clamshell box. HOOPER, William H. [39298] £5,000 An important Arctic Blue Book, presented to parliament on the 1850-1 Franklin Search expeditions led by Horatio Austin (on the Resolute) and William John Murray, 1853. Penny (on the Lady Franklin and Sophia). They comprise full reports by sledgers from both expeditions, correspondence between leaders of other coor- First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s original blue cloth, blind stamped, with gilt vignette and lettering. A single leaf of publisher’s advertisements dinated Franklin search missions, translations of reports of the Franklin expedition by natives as well as extensive observations on meteorology, geology, bound to read dated June 1853.