Northward Over the "Great Ice". A Narrative of Life and Work along the Shores and upon the Interior Ice-Cap of Northern Greenland in the Years 1886 and 1891-1897. With a Description of the Little Tribe of Smith-Sound E******, the most Northerly Human Beings in the World, and an Account of the Discovery and bringing Home of the "Saviksue," or Great Cape-York Meteorites.

PEARY, Robert E.

Edité par London: Methuen & Co., 1898

A propos de cet article

First British edition, published in the same year and from the same sheets as the US edition. The controversial Arctic pioneer's first book details his first three expeditions to the Arctic Circle and contains over 800 original photos depicting Inuit life. Robert Peary's (1856-1920) first expedition to the Arctic was in 1885, during which he planned to take a 650-kilometre hike across the southern icecap of Greenland. His party were forced to turn back after about 160 kilometres but "achieved the greatest elevation on the Greenland ice cap. and what Peary would claim as the farthest inland penetration" (Howgego). During his second expedition, he and his party spent the winter of 1891-2 learning survival techniques from Inuit people in preparation for sledging expeditions in the spring. The most successful of these expeditions was a 400-kilometre journey north-east from McCormick Bay to what Peary named Independence Bay at the north-eastern tip of Greenland. Peary's third expedition set out in March 1894, aiming for Independence Bay. Still, it was forced to turn back due to illness, frostbite and persistent blizzards, and Peary was irate to find that Astrup had upstaged him with a successful reconnaissance of Melville Bay. Another attempt the following year ended in similar circumstances, but the return journey provided an opportunity to investigate the meteorite fragments the party had previously noticed near Cape York. Peary brought one back and sold it to the American Museum of Natural History for $40,000. Howgego III P8. 2 vols, octavo. Photographic portrait frontispieces with tissue guard, folding map to rear of vol. 2, photographs, maps, and plans to the text, many full-page. Original dark blue cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, front covers lettered in gilt, panelled in blind, with vignette of a man with sled dogs in silver, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Prize label of Leith Academy School to a David Kemp on reverse of vol. I frontispiece. Light soiling and marks to cloth, spines bumped, vol. I frontispiece a little loose and inner hinge tender, contents clean. A very good copy.

N° de réf. du vendeur 177589

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Northward Over the "Great Ice". A Narrative of Life and Work along the Shores and upon the Interior Ice-Cap of Northern Greenland in the Years 1886 and 1891-1897. With a Description of the Little Tribe of Smith-Sound E******, the most Northerly Human Beings in the World, and an Account of the Discovery and bringing Home of the "Saviksue," or Great Cape-York Meteorites.
• Éditeur: London: Methuen & Co., 1898
• Édition: Edition originale