NANSEN, Fridtjof.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

"Farthest North". Second UK edition, issued a year after the first, this set handsomely bound. This is the official account of the first Fram expedition of 1893-6, "a remarkable achievement in Polar exploration" (PMM). The expedition was undertaken "with the object of investigating the polar basin north of Eurasia by drifting in the ice with the currents northwest from the New Siberian Islands across or near the Pole" (Arctic Bibliography). "Nansen returned to international acclaim not only for the voyage itself but for its results, proof of a deep Arctic Ocean, free of any land masses or islands, and extensive data on magnetism, zoology, and oceanography. His account of the journey, Farthest North, was a worldwide best-seller and prepared him for an effective life of diplomacy" (Books on Ice). Farthest North is beautifully illustrated from photographs and from Nansen's own sketches, for which he claims no artistic merit, but which are nonetheless highly atmospheric and effective. Like many of the polar books from the heroic age, this is a superbly produced work.The bookplate of Captain Richard Campbell (1933-2023) is on the front pastedown. Campbell was a Royal Navy hydrographer who commanded HMS Hydra and converted her into a hospital ship during the Falklands War. He contributed to hydrographic scholarship through the Hakluyt Society.

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