Report of the Committee of Physics and Meteorology of the Royal Society relative the observations to be made in the Antarctic Expedition and in the Magnetic Observatories.

£12,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Presentation copy inscribed on front free endpaper: “The Military Academy West Point Presented by Major Sabine in the name of the contributors.” After Capt James Cook’s first crossing of the Antarctic Circle, where on January 30, 1774 he reached a furthest south of 71 10’, exploration in the Antarctic was spurred on by Fabian Bellingshausen’s 1819 discovery of the continent though carried out largely by whaling and sealing fleets. It was in the late 1830s that exploration of the region became more serious with the United States Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes, Jules Dumont d’Urville’s second voyage on the Astrolabe , and James Clark Ross on Erebus and Terror . All three expeditions specifically sought the magnetic South Pole. During the four and half year voyage, the Erebus and Terror crossed the Antarctic circle three times and discovered among others Victoria Land, McMurdo Sound, Mount Erebus, and the Ross ice barrier. Ross carried out the most extensive mapping of the continental coastline to date and the Ross Sea was later named after him. On his return, Ross was awarded the Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of Paris. He was knighted the next year. Issued by a special committee of the Royal Society of which Sabine was a member, this practical manual was for scientists on Ross’s expedition. The geomagnetic surveys of the Antarctic regions produced by the Royal Society aided the expedition which

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