Back, Captain George:

$850 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

NARRATIVE OF THE ARCTIC LAND EXPEDITION TO THE MOUTH OF THE GREAT FISH RIVER, AND ALONG THE SHORES OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN, IN THE YEARS 1833, 1834, AND ... A fresh, clean copy of "One of the fundamental books on Arctic exploration" – Hill. George Back entered the Royal Navy in 1808, and was taken prisoner by the French in 1809, who detained him for nearly five years. Following his release he reenlisted, and served under Sir John Franklin in 1818. A true veteran of Arctic exploration, Back accompanied Franklin on both of his first two expeditions in 1819 and 1825-27, making this 1833-1835 expedition, undertaken originally as a relief mission for John Ross, his third foray. Back and his party went from Montreal to Great Slave Lake, then overland to the Arctic Ocean. The detailed descriptions of the geography, native flora and fauna, and indigenous inhabitants of Northwest Canada, supplemented by beautiful engravings made after Back's own sketches, quickly made this narrative a roaring success, and it was printed in three languages and four editions by the end of the year. Some copies, usually referred to as "large paper copies," were printed in a quarto volume from the same setting of type as this octavo edition."Captain Back's Narrative is crowded with details of his intercourse with the Crees, Chippewyans, Dog Rib, and Coppermine Indians, upon whom he, as well as Captain Franklin, was obliged to depend in great measure for subsistence during the terrible privations of an Arctic

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