"Farthest North" Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship Fram 1893-96 and of a Fifteen Month's Sleigh Journey by Dr. Nansen and Lieut. Johansen with an Appendix by Otto Sverdrup Captain of the Fram.

First English edition. 2 vols. Portrait frontispiece, 4 large coloured folding maps (one loose, tear unaffecting map), 16 colour & several other plates, with numerous illustrations in the text. 8vo. Fine original green pictorial cloth, gilt. Lightly soiled, one partial cup ring to vol 2. Occasional spotting and offsetting, a little dusty, otherwise a very good copy. xvi, 510; xvi, 672pp. London,

Nansen's voyage in the Fram captured the world's imagination and publications of his exploits were exceedingly popular. Having traversed Greenland on ski with three Norwegians and two Sami, he came up with a plan to reach the North Pole by allowing a purpose built ship to drift in the ice from East to West. Launched in 1892, the Fram was built by Norway's reknowned shipbuilder Colin Archer (his parents were Scots) to withstand the great pressures of the Arctic ice, and designed so that it would be lifted out of the water rather than be crushed by the expanding ice. Setting out in 1893, Captain Otto Sverdrup of the Fram steered a course for the waters North of Siberia where, as Nansen had planned, the ship was trapped in the ice.

It soon became evident however that the ice would bring the ship too far south, and so Nansen and Lieut. Johansen set out to ski to the North Pole. Although drifting ice and shortages of food prevented them reaching their destination, they did travel closer to the North Pole than anyone had managed previously. So, having decided to turn back the two men were forced to travel across the ice to Franz Joseph Land where they managed to meet up with an English expedition led by Frederick George Jackson, who took them back to Norway, to national and international acclaim as a great Polar explorer. The Fram meantime returned safely to Kristiania (Oslo) in September, 1896 with no loss of life.

Arctic Bibliography, 11983; PMM, 384.

Stock Code: 226427