CATALOGUE THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE STILL COLD Travels & Explorations in the Frozen Regions of the Earth WILLIAM REESE COMPANY 409 Temple Street New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 789-8081 A Note In 2003 the William Reese Company issued a catalogue devoted to polar exploration under the simple title, Cold, highlighting major works on travels and explorations in the extreme regions of the planet. Now, a little over a year after Bill Reese’s passing, we offer another significant assemblage of items related to the discovery and explo- ration of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Inspired by Bill’s earlier catalogue (and with a little dash of his sense of humor), we offer the current catalogue, Still Cold. Traditional printed rarities by Cartwright, Cook, Franklin (some written by him and some about the search for him), Hearne, King, Meares, Nares, Parry, Portlock, Richardson, Rink, Roquefeuil, Ross, Sarychev, Vancouver, Wilkes, Young, and more can be found here, along with important purely illustrated works, namely Cresswell’s collection of eight superb views of the Northwest Passage (item 41) and May’s fourteen sketches executed in search of the lost Franklin expedition (item 81). Unique accounts of Arctic and Antarctic exploration are also on offer, such as an important photographic record of Peary’s final Arctic expedition (item 99); Spader’s remarkable archive of original ink drawings of Harriman’s Alaska Expedition (item 126); Shepard’s spectacular album of watercolors illustrating the Antarctic expedition of the H.M.S. Challenger in 1872-74 (item 123); an extraordinary manuscript of music and artwork by officers on the Wilkes Exploring Expedition (item 42); and two watercolors featuring James Weddell’s ships during his third voyage in 1823 (item 140). We also offer important works relating to Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia, and major accounts by Danish, French, and Japanese explorers (items 100, 79, and 96, respectively). Runs of notable periodicals relating to polar exploration, works on indigenous Arctic languages, Norse sagas, Arctic whaling logs, collections of photo- graphs, and other works of ethnography and natural history round out the catalogue. Terms Material herein is offered subject to prior sale. All items are as described and are con- sidered to be on approval. Notice of return must be given within ten days unless specific arrangements are made. Residents of applicable states must be billed state sales tax. Postage and insurance charges are billed to all nonprepaid domestic orders. Overseas orders are sent by air unless otherwise requested, with full postage charges billed at our discretion. Payment by check, wire transfer, or bank draft is preferred, but may also be made by MasterCard or Visa. William Reese Company Phone: (203) 789-8081 409 Temple Street Fax: (203) 865-7653 New Haven, CT 06511 E-mail: [email protected] www.williamreesecompany.com FRONT COVER: 41. Cresswell, Samuel G.: A Series of Eight Sketches.... London. 1854. REAR COVER: 81. May, Walter W.: ...A Series of Fourteen Sketches.... London. 1855. 1. Acerbi, Joseph: TRAVELS THROUGH SWEDEN, FINLAND, AND LAPLAND, TO THE NORTH CAPE, IN THE YEARS 1798 AND 1799. London. 1802. Two volumes. xxiv,396; viii,380pp., plus folding map and sixteen plates (five handcolored). Quarto. Antique-style three-quarter calf and marbled boards. Contemporary ownership signature on titlepages. Scattered foxing and toning, some offsetting from plates. Very good. Acerbi was an Italian naturalist and composer, and this record of his travels in Scandinavia describes the customs of the people, including folk music, and the surrounding environment. There are detailed observations on natural history, in- cluding a plate of the Lapland Owl. His travels were considered remarkable at the time because he penetrated to areas believed inaccessible, with most of the second volume devoted to Lapland. The large folding map shows Sweden, Finland, and Norway, while the plates show scenes of life in the northern realms. $1350. 2. [Alaska]: A HISTORY OF THE WRONGS OF ALASKA. AN AP- PEAL TO THE PEOPLE AND PRESS OF AMERICA. PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE ANTI-MONOPOLY ASSOCIATION OF THE PACIFIC COAST. San Francisco. 1875. 43pp. Original front wrapper bound into later half morocco. Very good. A propagandistic appeal by the unsuccessful bidders for a fur seal contract, for the repeal of the so-called monopoly of the Alaska Commercial Company. Claims to present only the “facts” and calls on the people and press of America to petition Congress for the repeal the government granted to the Company for a monopoly in the fur seal trade. Includes a brief historical sketch of Alaska, focusing on how her natural riches came into the hands of a few money-hungry robber barons, and paints a dismal picture of the “serfdom” of the civilized natives on the fur seal islands of St. George and St. Paul. TOURVILLE 269. RICKS, p.26. WICKERSHAM 1793. $500. 3. [Alaska]: Emmons, S.F.: ...MAP OF ALASKA SHOWING KNOWN GOLD-BEARING ROCKS WITH DESCRIPTIVE TEXT CON- TAINING SKETCHES OF THE GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, AND GOLD DEPOSITS AND ROUTES TO THE GOLD FIELDS. Washington: United States Geological Survey, 1898. [2],44pp. plus folding colored map. Original printed wrappers, detached. Map with four neat closed tears. Text bright and clean. Very good. Report issued by the United States Geological Survey for the use of prospectors and miners, including descriptions of routes to the Klondike and notes on the probable extent of gold-bearing deposits. The large folding map of Alaska is particularly fine and has some of the gold region shaded in bright yellow. WICKERSHAM 8223. $600. Alaska Mining Archive 4. [Alaska]: [SMALL ARCHIVE OF PHOTOGRAPHS, MAPS, BUSI- NESS AGREEMENTS, AND A LETTER, RELATING TO THE ACTIVITIES OF THE CHICKALOON COAL MINING COM- PANY OF ALASKA]. [Various places in Alaska & California. 1917-1920]. Includes one large colored folding map, 20 x 40 inches; three folding blueprint maps (two of them 13½ x 21½ inches, the third 9¼ x 13 inches); a folding cross-section; four photographs (three of them 3¼ x 5 inches, mounted to card – one a cyanotype); three folding printed legal documents; a [2]pp. typed letter, signed, to the manager of the company; and a pamphlet on coal mining (see below). Large map with stains in margins, small areas of separation at cross-folds. Other items with light wear. Overall, very good. An interesting archive relating to the early operations of the Chickaloon Coal Com- pany of Chickaloon, Alaska. Chickaloon, located some seventy-five miles up the Matanuska River from Anchorage, remains an area of interest to those who would mine coal there. The company was founded in 1917 by a Californian who leased the land for his mines from the federal government. The collection documents the formation of the company and its capitalization, and includes maps of the area. The largest of the maps is a U.S.G.S. “Topographical Map of Lower Matanuska Valley Alaska,” dated 1918 and based on surveys done in 1909 and 1913. The location of the “Anthracite Ridge” is printed on the maps, and lots 10, 11, and 12 of the Chickaloon Coal Company are highlighted in red ink, as are a couple other areas of concern to the company. The two larger blueprint maps show the progress of prospecting in Leasing Unit No. 11, one of them corrected to April 7, 1918, the other to June 1, 1918, with shading showing the work done in various months. The smaller blueprint map, dated June 13, 1918, shows the proposed wagon road from Chickaloon to King River. The cross-section shows the “folding of measures” in the Chickaloon area. The three printed legal documents were all executed in California. The ear- liest is dated 1917 and early 1918, being an indenture describing the actions of Lars Netland of Oakland and his wife, in leasing coal land in Alaska from the U.S. government. The second document, dated Feb. 15, 1918, records the loan of $4000 by M.J. Fontana to the Chickaloon Coal Company in return for stock in the company. The third document, dated ten days later, pertains to the issuance of shares in the company. Fontana is the largest shareholder by far, followed by Lars Netland, A.L. Brizzolara, and W.A. Gompertz, the manager of the company. The photographs show an outcrop of coal disclosed by railway cuttings, and three others that show a ship, one of the pictures a cyanotype. The typed letter is dated June 27, 1918 and is addressed to W.A. Gompertz, manager of the company. The subject is the drilling process, and different techniques, locations, and angles that might work, including the use of diamond drill bits. Also included is a copy of a 1920 government-issued pamphlet entitled Mining in the Matanuska Coal Field and the Willow Creek District Alaska by Theodore Chapin, which discusses the work of the Chickaloon mining company. $850. 5. [Alaskan Boundary Tribunal]: ALASKAN BOUNDARY TRIBUNAL UNITED STATES ATLAS MAPS AND CHARTS ACCOMPA- NYING THE CASE AND COUNTER CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. [with:] ALASKAN BOUNDARY TRIBUNAL BRITISH ATLAS MAPS AND CHARTS ACCOMPANYING THE CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. [with:] ALASKAN BOUNDARY TRIBUNAL ATLAS OF AWARD TWENTY-FIVE SECTIONAL MAPS AND INDEX MAP SHOWING THE LINE FIXED BY THE TRIBU- NAL. Washington, D.C. 1904. Three volumes. Titlepage, two preliminary leaves and forty-eight maps (eight double-page, some colored lithograph); titlepage, contents leaf, plus thirty-seven colored lithograph maps (ten dou- ble-page); titlepage plus twenty-five colored lithograph maps (twenty-two double-page). Folio. Antique-style three-quarter leather and marbled boards, preserving original gilt leather cover labels, spines gilt. Minor edge wear. Light dampstain near bottom gutter of second volume, else internally clean and quite nice.