Palgrave, W. G.
First edition. 8vo. pp. 4 (ads.), cxciii, 326; one folding map relating to Palgrave s article, 11 other maps relating to other articles in this volume; very good in original printed boards, a little wear to spine. Palgrave's travels appeared in 1865 as his Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia. This abbreviated version of his travels is accompanied by a folding map of the Arabian peninsula showing his route. This volume also includes articles by: Charles von der Decken 'Geographical Notes of an Expedition to Mount Kilimandjaro in 1862-3' (with map); Robert Swinhoe 'Notes on the Island of Formosa' (with map); H. H. Godwin-Austen 'On the Glaciers of the Mustakh Range' (with map); James M Kerrow 'Reconnaissance Survey of the Lake District of Otago and Southland, New Zealand' (with map); Henry Youle Hind 'An Exploration up the Moisie River, to the edge of the Table-Land of the Labrador Peninsula' (with map); Julius Haast 'Notes on the Mountains and Glaciers of the Canterbury Province, New Zealand'; James Hector 'Expedition to the West Coast of Otago, New Zealand'; C. Forbes 'Notes on the Physical Geography of Vancouver Island' (with map); H. S. Palmer 'Remarks upon the Geography and Natural Capabilities of British Columbia, and the Condition of its principal Gold- Fields' (with map); Richard Thornton 'Notes on the Zambesi and the Shiré'; John Kirk 'On a few Fossil Bones from the Alluvial Strata of the Zambesi Delta'; Roderick I. Murchison 'On the Antiquity of the Physical Geography of Inner Africa'; Guillermo Cox 'Expedition across the Southern Andes of Chili' (with map); Thomas J. Hutchinson 'Details of a Journey through part of the Salado Valley, and across some of the Argentine Provinces' (with map); David Livingstone 'Exploration to the West of Lake Nyassa in 1863'; Lewis Pelly 'Visit to Lingah, Kishm, and Bunder Abbass' (with map of the Island ofKishm in the Persian Gulf); Algernon de Horsey 'On the Comoro Islands'; Julian Moreton 'Some Account of the Physical Geography of Newfoundland' (with map). This volume also includes a revised and augmented edition of 'Hints to Travellers' by George Back, Richard Collinson, and Francis Galton (pp. 272-316).
[Apollo 15.]
First edition. 4to. pp. xiv, 11, 11, 32, 4, 112, 25, 28, 25, 16, 7, 23, 10, 5, 6, 7, 6, 17, 7, 7, 6, 14, 9, 10, 9, 112, 3, 1, 3, [2], 11 folding panoramic plates, illusts.; original pictorial card wrappers, heavily bumped to head of spine and a little worn, else very good. Inscribed to the front wrappers "To Prof. Clemedson Best wishes from Crew of Apollo 15 Dave Scott Al Worden and Jim Irwin". The Apollo 15 mission became the fourth to land on the moon, and the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo programme. The longer time spent on the moon, the emphasis on science, and the first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle marked it as a new departure. The crew - David Scott, James Irwin, and pilot Alfred Worden - were given extensive geological training. Scott and Irwin spent 18 1/2 hours on the moon during four long excursions on the rover, collecting 77 kilos of surface material that was brought back to earth. Worden, in lunar orbit, made measurements of the moon using cameras, spectrometers, and an altimeter. On their return journey, Worden also made the first spacewalk in deep-space. The present work offers some of the initial findings from their mission, and it was presented by the crew to Carl-Johan Clemedson, a Swedish military physician working for the Swedish Defence Research Agency. Clemedson was one of the first scientists in Sweden to take an interest in space medicine, and he became a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.
Gagarin, Yuri.
8vo. pp. 223, [1, contents]; frontis., illusts.; very good in original cloth in d.-w. Inscribed to flyleaf by Gagarin in Russian to the former Danish traffic minister Alfred Jensen, address label of Ragnhild Andersen with Jensen's name in ink. Gagarin was the first human to reach space, on the 12 April 1961. This memoir - the title translates Road to Space. Notes of a USSR's pilot-cosmonaut - appeared only a few months after his space-flight. With a foreword by Nikolaj Kamanin (1808-82), head of cosmonaut training in the Soviet space programme and the man who made the final selection of Gagarin, the book tells the story of the modest young man from humble beginnings, and his path from a war-torn Russia, through his work as a mechanic and later an aviator, to his epoch making journey into space. He inscribed this copy - with the words "To the vice- chairman in the Denmark-Soviet Union Society Mr Jensen and his wife with respect, Gagarin" (translation) - to Alfred Jensen (1903-1988), a member of the Danish Communist Party and its leader during the years of Nazi occupation. In 1952 Jensen married Ragnhild Andersen, and it is her address label that appears beneath the inscription. Jensen and Ragnhild remained loyal to Moscow when the Danish Communist Party, under its leader Aksel Larsen, distanced itself from the Soviet Union; their meeting with Gagarin, and the inscribed copy of his book, might be regarded as a reward for their loyalty.
Nansen, Fridtjof.
[Second edition.] 20 original parts. 8vo. Port. frontis. to part 10, black and white frontis. to vol. II, numerous b&w illusts, 1 coloured plate, 1 coloured folding map, advertisements with illustrations at front and rear of each part; some embrowning to paper of ads., else good in the original printed wrappers, some fraying to margins of wrappers, else in good condition. Nansen's narrative of the Fram expedition (1893-96) appeared in a first English edition in 1897. The book was subsequently issued by George Newnes in 20 parts, appearing every fortnight. An option was given to purchase bindings for these parts, not present here; examples of the second edition can be found which have been bound up from the original parts. However, complete sets of the work in its original parts seldom come on to the market.
[Przhevalsky, Nikolay.]
First edition. Together 5 original parts (parts 4-5 issued in one vol.); pp. 360 + [vii, title-page and contents bound in at beginning of part 6]; text in Swedish, one folding map of Przhevalsky's expedition, nine other maps and plates relating to other articles in these issues; very good and partly unopened in the original printed wrappers, which are slightly age-toned and chipped with a little loss, but generally in good order. Przhevalsky (1839-88) undertook four expeditions into Central Asia, the last and final expedition from 1883 to 1885. The present issues of the Helsinki journal Geografiska Föreningens Tidskrift contain an account by Georg Fraser of this last expedition, "often regarded as the most geographically significant" (Howgego). Przhevalsky crossed the Gobi Desert to the Henlan Shan, continuing to Koko Nor and Tsaidam; he visited the lakes of Gyaring Hu and Ngoring Hu, and the upper Yangtze close to its source. Prevented from reaching Lhassa, the expedition returned to Tsaidam and crossed the Altun Shan, reaching Lop Nor; they then traced the Silk Route south of the Takla Makan, from Khotan turning north and following the Toxcan He valley through the Tien Shan, returning via lake Issyk Kul to European Russia.
First edition. 8vo. 2 vols. pp. xxi, 308 & v, [309]-616; port. frontis to each, plates, two maps; some foxing, occasionally heavy, school prize bookplates to each front pastedown, very good in the original cloth, gilt, t.e.g., cloth marked to covers, darkened on spines. Chaillé-Long (1842-1917) fought in the American Civil War before joining the Egyptian army as a lieutenant-colonel in 1869. He later accompanied General Charles G. Gordon on an expedition from Egypt into Sudan, during the course of which Chaillé-Long continued to Uganda. On his return he discovered Lake Kioga, one of the lakes through which the While Nile flows. He subsequently undertook further expeditions in Africa, departing the Egyptian service in 1877. He returned to Egypt on several further occasions, but also trained as a lawyer, teaching international law in Paris, and became consul general for the delegation to Korea. His later career was marked by disappointment that his explorations did not receive the recognition in the English-speaking world that they deserved, and the preface to the present work exhibits his bitterness in this regard. He dedicates the volumes to the memory of General Gordon.
First edition. 8vo. pp. [iv], 84; wood-eng. frontis., illusts.; minor staining to lower outer corner of final leaf, else very good in the original cloth, gilt, a little marked. A presentation copy from the author to "Miss Williams, Souvenir of a stay at [?]Dresden, Percy W. Britton" (slightly smudged), subsequently presented by the Estate of Miss Abigail Williams in May 1913 to the Essex Institute with their bookplate and small inkstamp to title-page ("Card Catalogued"). According to his preface (dated London, December 1870), the author had been staying at the Institution Internationale in Vésinet, near Paris, since September 1869, when he was advised to tour some of the French provinces to practice his French. Shortly after this the Franco-Prussian war broke out, and Britton's book records the country during the two months in the immediate aftermath of the declaration. The text is entirely in French, and a small printed slip loosely inserted in the book apologises for errors in accents and punctuation which were due to the author's being away from his printer in London.
