[Schröder-Stranz Expedition, 1912-3.] Hauptmann A. Staxrud & Dr. K. Wegener.
First edition. 8vo. pp. xiv, 101; coloured frontis., 20 b&w photo. plates, one folding map; previous owner s inscription to title-page, else very good in original boards, expertly restored to spine. Herbert Schröder-Stranz's Expedition to Spitsbergen in 1912 was undertaken in preparation for a proposed crossing of the Northeast Passage by ship. The fifteen-man expedition included Alfred Ritscher - later to lead the Schwabenland expedition to the Antarctic - and Christopher Rave, an artist. Schröder-Stranz set out by sledge with three companions, and tasked those left on the ship with laying depots. The sledge part was not seen again, and when the ship was beached in Sorgfjorden the remaining crew separated, some remaining with the ship, others leaving to seek help. Ritscher reached Adventfjorden alone, from where news of the expedition went out. Two search expeditions, one under Staxrud, the other led by Wegener, attempted to reach the stricken men, the former discovering Rave and another man, Rüdiger; several other expedition members managed to reach Adventfjorden under their own steam, but in total eight men failed to return. The present rare work, an account of the two search expeditions with initial details of Schröder-Stranz's expedition, was edited for publication by A. Miethe.
[Map.]
A large folding engraved map, coloured, sectionalised on linen and folding into original boards, cartographer s label to upper board, faded to spine. An excellent map, showing the Americas in toto, the eastern tip of Asia with the Behring Strait, New Zealand and Polynesia, Greenland at the top and the Azores and Cap Verde Islands to the east. The information relating to the Arctic shows Cape Parr, named for Alfred Parr of the British Arctic Expedition under George Nares (1875-6). The South Shetland Islands and Graham Land are shown to the south, as are the Balleny Islands and South Victoria (Victoria Land).
Aagaard, Bjarne.
First edition. 5 vols. (vol. 3 in two vols.) + leaflet loosely inserted. Large 8vo. illusts., folding maps inc. 3 in rear pocket of vol. 3 part 2; very good in original cloth, volumes 1-3 in original d.-w.s, browning to spines and chipping to extrems. of wrappers, slight loss at head of that to vol. 2, some loss to lower spine of wrapper to vol. 3 part 1. Rosove 1: "A fine and comprehensive review of Antarctic exploration". This set comprises the scarce earlier volumes, and the very scarce final volume; loosely inserted also is the 8pp. pamphlet of Aagaard's supplementary notes to the first two volumes (Rosove 1-2.A1). Aagaard's work was severely delayed due to his opposition to the whaling industry; this attracted "the enmity of the whale barons and the press" (Rosove), who succeeded in halting publication. In the event, the second part of volume three did not appear until 1947, the final volume in 1950 - "a labor of love if ever there was one" (Rosove). NB A very heavy set which will require additional postage costs.
Nansen, Fridtjof.
First edition. Large 8vo. pp. xiii, 386; port. frontis., plates with photo. illusts., 3 folding maps; very good in original cloth, gilt, a few minor marks. A presentation copy, inscribed on front blank "Til Generalkonsul Chr. B. Lorentzen med takk for elskverdig gjestfrihet fra Fristjof Nansen 2. dec. 1914" [ To Consul General Chr. B. Lorentzen with thanks for gracious hospitality ]. The Norwegian businessman Jonas Lied (1881-1969) attempted to open a trading route to Northern Siberia, in 1913 founding the Siberia Company with this purpose. That year he and Fridtjof Nansen sailed to the area, publishing a joint article of their findings in Britain's Geographical Journal for 1914. Nansen also published this book narrative of the expedition, which was translated into English as Through Siberia, the Land of the Future (1914). Nansen presented this copy to Christian Blom Lorentzen (1863-1936), a businessman, paper merchant, and member of the board of the Siberian Company.
[Franklin, Sir John.]
8vo. pp. 12. disbound (extracted from a larger volume), slight wear and a little age-toning, else very good. House of Representatives, 31st Congress, 1st Session, Ex. Doc. no. 16. This document reproduces letters submitted to the US Senate and the House of Representatives by the then President Zachary Taylor. The letters were addressed by Jane Franklin to the President soliciting American assistance in the search for her husband Sir John Franklin. The letters were reproduced twice, once for the Senate in an issue of the 4th January, 1850, and later in the present version for the House of Representatives. The two versions vary slightly in their layout, but apart from minor differences in wording are similar.
Skinner, Bruce.
First edition. Slim 4to. pp. [i, title-page], [i, dedication leaf], 4ll. printed to rectos only; 12 eng. plates; bookplate of Gunnar Nyhus, very good in contemporary half calf, rather rubbed. A presentation copy, inscribed on title-page "To the Oxford and Camb. Club Bruce Skinner July 1841", with the Club's inkstamp to the title-page verso. Skinner graduated from Cambridge in 1839, and made this early visit to Norway. His sketches show scenes on the Hardanger Fjord, Vossevangen, Sjæaren s Foss, Romsdal s Horn, Snæhattan and elsewhere.
Comprising: 1: Album belonging to William K. Horner, Chief Aerographer's Mate who overwintered 1955-6, with over 60 contemporary photographs mostly approx. 5 x 4" but some larger, a large-format photographic portrait of Commander George Dufek inscribed to Horner, two Christmas cards sent from the Antarctic by Horner to his family, and two tin labels taken from one of the historic huts; 2: An envelope of approx. 40 large format official photographs from the 1950s expeditions, each approx. 10 x 8" and captioned to verso; 3. An Information Folder for 1963, containing three booklets (Welcome to Operation Deep Freeze, Introduction to Antarctica, and Aviation in the Antarctic), a leaflet for Air Devron Six, a 2pp. mimeograph, and eight 1960s photographs. From 1955, the United States initiated a series of expeditions to the Antarctic, in preparation for its involvement in the International Geophysical Year 1957/8. Known collectively as Operation Deep Freeze, the first expedition was led by George Dufek in 1955, though the Polar pioneer Richard Byrd had titular command. The sizeable task force for the first season established an operations station at McMurdo Sound, and a further base on the Ross Ice Shelf, Little America V. The location put members of the expedition in relative proximity to the huts built by Scott and Shackleton at Hut Point and Cape Royds. The album offered here, compiled by or for expedition member William Horner, contains images of the first season, and mementoes such as Christmas cards sent home from the Antarctic, and two tin labels almost certainly collected from one of the historic huts - one for Beach's Apricot, the other Griffiths McAlister & Co. (arguably these were taken from Shackleton's hut). This first year of operation also saw the first plane landing at the South Pole. Operation Deep Freeze continued each year - the other items offered here record later seasons from 1956 to 1963 - and to date forms part of the United States ongoing presence on the continent.
4to. pp. 8; very good in original stiff pictorial card wrappers, slightly rubbed and soiled, with, loosely inserted, the table plan for the dinner. A menu printed for the dinner, at which were present Lord Hunt, and many luminaries of the climbing world - Tenzing, Noyce, Desio, Franco, Francis Farquhar, James Wordie, Houston, Longstaff, Winthrop Young, Gavin de Beer, Howard-Bury, Odell, Rebuffat, Kenneth Mason, and many more.
First UK edition. 8vo. pp. ix. 294; 20 photo. illusts., one folding coloured map; some occasional foxing, else very good in original cloth, gilt, top edges gilt, the New South Wales Library of Parliament copy with its gilt crest to upper board. The Tien Shan mountain chain lies in North West China, north of the Taklamakan Desert on the eastern outskirts of Russian Turkestan. Merzbacher's visit there in 1892 left him with "abiding impressions of its magnificent mountain chains" and he vowed "to contribute somewhat to their exploration" (Introduction). Preliminary exploration had been undertaken by Russians in the 1890s, but Merzbacher's intention was to reach the very highest regions of the chain. With this aim in mind, an expedition was mounted in mid-1902. To negotiate the many difficult mountain climbs ahead, Merzbacher employed the assistance of the Alpinist Hans Pfann and two Tyrolese guides. They were joined also by Hans Keidel, who undertook the geological work. Merzbacher's book, his account of the expedition, is illustrated with some of the first photographic plates of the region.
Subscriber's edition. 4to. pp. xxii, 659, [i] [page xv mispaginated as viii]; 66 plates including port. frontis. of Faisal, decorative initials by Edward Wadsworth, 4 folding coloured maps on linen, illusts. to text, decorative endpapers; very good in original quarter pigskin, gilt, a.e.g., a few minor marks, flaw to pigskin on upper board. Initialled by Lawrence on p. xix "Complete copy 1.xii.26 T.E.S." with a MS correction to list of plates. "I hate bibliophiles", Lawrence claimed in a letter to Edward Garnett, "and did my best to throw them off the track with the SP, so I did not number my copies, or declare how large the edition was . . . or have a standard binding, or signatures, or index, or anything posh". Lawrence's epic narrative of his war career in the Middle East took many years to come into print. A first draft dating from 1919 was reputedly lost at Reading Station. Re-written in haste, the new text comprised some 400,000 words, which Lawrence redrafted over the next two years, reducing it to about 70,000 words by 1922. This initial version was printed in only a handful of copies for friends, and in 1923 he decided to publish it in an expensive limited edition. This process took a further two years, Lawrence making changes as the project continued. On completion, the printed sheets were bound by different binders, supposedly to make it impossible to distinguish earlier from later issues. This lavish edition includes illustrations, initials and vignettes that were contributed by Eric Kennington, William Roberts, Augustus John, William Nicholson, Paul Nash, Blair Hughes-Stanton, Gertrude Hermes, and others. In common with other copies of this edition, the "Prickly Pear" plate not included in the list of illustrations is present, and two Paul Nash illustrations called for on pages 92 and 208 are absent (as usual); also not present is the Blair Hughes-Stanton wood engraving on the dedication recorded in a very few copies.
First edition, in 19 original parts number 1-25 (parts 15-16, 17-18, 19-20, 21-22 and 24-25); pp. 603, ix [title-page, contents]; woodcut illusts. and maps; very good in original printed wrappers, minor chipping to extremities, wrappers to several parts a little age-toned, previous owner s inscription to front of most wrappers, overall a very good set. This is the Norwegian first edition of Nansen's In Northern Mists, his history of early northern exploration. The book appeared in book form, and also in this far scarcer part form. According to an advertisement that appears on the rear to part four of the parts issue of Amundsen's Sydpolen, the publisher offered Nansen's Nord i Taakeheimen in book form for either 20 or 24 Krone; this parts issue was sold at 80 øre per part (i.e. a total of 15 Krone).
First edition. 8vo. pp. xxvi, 385; 9 plates or full-page illusts. inc. frontis., illusts. to text, folding map; minor foxing, else near-fine in the original cloth, gilt. Provenance: With the pencilled ownership inscription of Frederic Gardiner, Alpine Club, with his bookplate, and loosely inserted a small note to him from C. Taylor of St. John s College, Cambridge. Amelia Edwards' book was one of the first thorough descriptions of the Dolomites, an area which, until the 1860s - when Ball's Guide to the Eastern Alps was published - was surprisingly little documented. This copy once belonged to Frederick Gardiner, the Alpine Club member who made a series of successful climbs in the 1870s and 1880s, including the first guideless ascent of the Jungfrau.
