A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, During the Years 1839-43.
ROSS Capt. Sir James Clark (1847.)
£2500.00 [First Edition]
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A MAJOR EARLY ANTARCTIC VOYAGE
First edition, first issue. 2 vols. 8 sepia lithographs (including a folding panorama), 8 charts (3 of these folding, 2 very large), & 18 engraved vignettes. 8vo. Contemporary catspaw calf, rebacked, red & black morocco labels to spines, gilt, yellow edges, some spotting, small chips to frontispiece. liii, 366; xi, 447, 16ads (dated January 1847). London, John Murray,
A very good copy of James Clark Ross's landmark voyage to the Antarctic in 1839-43.
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 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 Victoria Land, McMurdo Sound, Mount Erebus, the Ross ice barrier, and numerous other features. He 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.
Rosove dates the various issues through the dated advert leaves. As here, January 1847 denotes the first issue.
This copy belonged to the Harvard-trained lawyer Francis Reynolds Dickinson (1880-1974), who served as president of the Chicago Association of Sciences; then the noted Swedish polar collector, Otto Norland.
Howgego II, R27; Rosove, 276; Ferguson, 4636.
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Stock Code: 245615
