Abruzzi’s expedition divides neatly into the two parts described in these volumes. The first volume deals with the sea voyage of the Polar Star, the second with Umberto Cagni’s sledging journey toward the North Pole. Much of the second volume is by Cagni who had taken over command because of Abruzzi’s injuries.
Farther North than Nansen. Being the voyage of the Polar Star.
Abruzzi, Luigi Amedeo di Savoia. Two Volumes. London: Howard Wilford Bell, 1901.
- 1899-1900 Italian North Polar Expedition (aboard Polar Star commanded by the Duke of Abruzzi and Umberto Cagni).
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On the “Polar Star” in the Arctic Sea.
Abruzzi, Luigi Amedeo di Savoia. Translated by William Le Queux. Two Volumes. New York: Dodd Mead; London: Hutchinson, 1903.
- 1899-1900 Italian North Polar Expedition (aboard Polar Star commanded by the Duke of Abruzzi and Umberto Cagni).
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Volume. I.
Captain Sverdrup’s expedition to Northern Greenland.
Sverdrup, Otto. Geographical Journal 13 (Feb 1899) 136-147.
- 1898-1902 Swedish Ship and Sledging Expedition to Northern Greenland (Led by Otto Sverdrup aboard Fram).
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
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Re the 1898-1902 ship and sledging expedition aboard the Fram, designed to survey the northern coast of Greenland, map its coastline, and to determine the extent of its northern islands. The article includes a description of Fram’s equipment.
New Land: Four Years in the Arctic Regions.
Sverdrup, Otto. Two volumes. London: Longmans, Green, 1904.
- 1898-1902 Swedish Ship and Sledging Expedition to Northern Greenland (Led by Otto Sverdrup aboard Fram).
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Volume I:
“The North West Passage” Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship “Gjoa” 1903-1907 by Roald Amundsen with a Supplement by First Lieutenant Hansen Vice-Commander of the Expedition.
Amundsen, Roald. Two Volumes. (New York: Dutton, 1908).
- 1903-07 Norwegian Northwest Passage Expedition (Roald Amundsen aboard Gjoa).
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A strangely colorless, almost vacuous account of a long expedition, at least in this translated prose. Volume I has only a few bookish references, a picture on p. 119 of a shelf of scientific books in the Villa ‘Magnet”, the small base building for magnetic observations. And a description of an Eskimo visit to the ship:
Cruises in the Bering Sea: Being Records of Further Sport and Travel .
Niedieck, Paul. Translated by R. A. Ploetz. London: Rowland Ward, 1909. [Reprint Camden, SC: John Culler, 1995.].
- 1906 German Hunting Expedition in Alaska and Siberia.
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The German author hunted bear and sheep in Alaska and Siberia and his book is now especially current as he hunted on the fabled Kamchatka Peninsula where hunting has just been opened. The author bagged many brown bears and snow sheep.
Mirage in the Arctic: the Astounding 1907 Mikkelsen Expedition
Mikkelsen, Ejnar. Introduction by Lawrence Millman. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2005.
- 1907 Mikkelsen Expedition.
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A breezy account of Mikkelsen’s attempt to find land within the Arctic Sea, and his dealing with the ice that he did find instead of land.
Lost in the Arctic, Being the Story of the ‘Alabama’ Expedition, 1909-1912.
Mikkelsen, Ejnar. London: William Heinemann, 1913.
- 1909-12 Danish Expedition in Search of Mylius-Erichsen (aboard Alabama led by Ejnar Mikkelsen).
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p. 171: When I got back to camp Iversen has prepared a little feast. He has opened a new case of provisions in which we find two cigars, that Laub had packed away as a surprise for us. They are pretty badly damaged, but we fix them up somehow, and are soon enjoying the rare treat of a good smoke, together with the further delight of looking at the pictures in an old number of an illustrated paper that had been used to pack them in. The sheets are greasy and torn, but we put the pieces carefully together—here is reading matter for many days, even though we take a little foretaste of it now by glancing at the text here and there. There are bits of several stories, with neither beginning nor end, but that doesn’t matter—we make up the rest ourselves—a splendid way of passing the time, and an excellent subject for conversation on lying-up days.
By Airplane towards the North Pole: An Account of an Expedition to Spitzbergen in the Summer of 1923.
Mittelholzer, Walter, et al. Translated from the German by Eden & Cedar Paul. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1925.
- 1923 German Air Expedition to Spitsbergen.
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This expedition had the two-fold purposes of aerial photography of the Spitsbergen interior, and making the case (albeit in the interests of the Junker aircraft corporation) for the utility of aircraft in polar exploration. In a book devoted to exploration by air it would appear unsurprising that there is no apparent reference to reading as appears in most other exploration literature. It does have this curious reference to Robert Peary’s claim to the North Pole discovery of 1909: “But Peary’s aim had been the establishment of a sporting record, rather than the advancement of science” (p. 164-65).
The Tragedy of the Italia, with the Rescuers to the Red Tent.
Giudici, Davide. New York: Appleton, 1929.
- 1928 Italian North Pole Flight of Umberto Nobile (aboard the airship Italia).
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An account by an Italian reporter aboard a Russian icebreaker looking for Nobile after the airship had crashed.
Greenland Journey: The Story of Wegener’s German Expedition to Greenland in 1930-31 as Told by Members of the Expedition and the Leader’s Diary.
Wegener, Alfred. Edited by Else Wegener, with the Assistance of Dr. Fritz Loewe. London: Blackie & son, 1939.
- 1930-31 German Expedition to Greenland (Alfred Wegener).
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p. 140, Karl Weiken on the relief journey: During the excessive exertions and nerve-racking hustle of the summer we had often looked forward to the long restful winter night. First we would rest awhile and collect ourselves, and then we would be able to enjoy a good book again.
Mid-Ice: The Story of the Wegener Expedition to Greenland.
Georgi, Johannes. Translation by F. H. Lyon. [Preface by Einar Mikkelsen] London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1934.
- 1930-31 German Expedition to Greenland (Alfred Wegener).
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p. xii: It is a human document of importance, which will show coming generations till remote ages what German scientists will dare that they may follow their scientific vocation and do honour to their country.
Across Arctic America: Narrative of the Fifth Thule Expedition.
Rasmussen, Knud. New York: Putnam’s, 1927. [Reprinted New York: Greenwood, 1969].
- 1921-24 Danish Fifth Thule Expedition to Eastern Siberia (led by Knud Rassmussen).
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From ABEBooks, 9/4/17: Between 1921 and 1924, Knud Rasmussen led a small band of colleagues in a journey of investigation across the top of North America. The full scientific report of that 20,000-mile trek by dog sled from Greenland to Siberia, known to history as the Firth Thule Expedition, fills ten volumes. This single volume, Across Arctic America, is Rasmussen’s own reworking and condensation of his two-volume popular account written in Danish, and gives the essence of his experience of the Arctic and its people. It was the people who most captivated the Greenland-born Rasmussen, who had become a virtual adopted son to the Eskimos of the far northern district still known by the name of the trading post he established there, Thule. His first four Thule Expeditions extended the limits of the known world in Greenland solely, but Rasmussen s Fifth Thule Expedition demonstrated the unity of the Eskimo world from the Atlantic Ocean to the Chukchi Sea, proving the people all shared the same basic language and culture.
First Crossing of the Polar Sea, with Additional Chapters by Other Members of the Expedition.
Amundsen, Roald and Lincoln Ellsworth [et al]. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1927.
- 1926 Amundsen/Ellsworth/Nobile Flying Expedition over North Pole.
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A composite account of the 1926 Svalberg to Alaska flight with Nobile, giving a fairly florid account of the expedition, avoiding most of the controversy it engendered. Obviously not much about reading in a crowded gondola, but there are a few things of interest:
1961 Lighthouse Keeper in Iceland
Johann Petersson.
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia