The Polar Regions, Or a Search after Sir John Franklin’s Expedition…

Osborn, Sherard. Dedicated to Lady Franklin. (New York: A. S. Barnes, 1871). [First published as Stray Leaves from an Arctic Journal. London, 1852.].
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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This deals with the 1850 Franklin search by the Intrepid and Pioneer, in company with Resolute and Assistance, with Osborn as Commander of the Pioneer. "Account, by the commander of the "Pioneer", one of the tenders to the Resolute and Assistance, of the Franklin search expedition under Capt. H. T. Austin: the voyage by Baffin Bay, Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, the wintering at Griffith Island, and return. Includes informative notes on West Greenland Eskimos, negotiating the ice of northern Baffin Bay, ice conditions in the Canadian Arctic waters, hunting adventures, clothing, food and equipment (for sledge journeys and otherwise), carrier pigeons, the sledge journeys, arctic nature and winter recreations." (Description on ABEBooks)

Stray Leaves from an Arctic Journal: Or, Eighteen Months in the Polar Regions, in Search of Sir John Franklin’s Expedition, in the Years 1850-1851.

Osborn, Sherard. (New York: Putnam’s, 1852). Putnam’s Semi-Monthly Library. [There was another 1852 edition published in London by Longman Brown with different pagination (320 p.) and some variants.].
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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p. 21, re Brit. chauvinism: The whaler from bonnie Scotia, or busy Hull, fresh from the recollection of his laird and home, no doubt shudders at the comparative misery and barbarity of these poor people; but those who have seen the degraded Bushmen of South Africa, the miserable Patanies of Malayia, the Fuegians of our southern hemisphere, and remember the comparative blessings afforded by climate to those melancholy specimens of the human family, will, I think, exclaim with me, that the Esquimaux of Greenland are as superior to them in mental capacity, manual dexterity, physical enterprise, and social virtues, as the Englishman is to the Esquimaux.

Finding Franklin: The Untold Story of a 165-Year Search.

Potter, Russell A. (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2016).
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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p. 11: McClintock found one of these [Franklin whale]boats abandoned on the western shore of the island; in it were two skeletons along with an astonishing array of materials—silver forms and spoons, tea, chocolate, lead sheeting, carpet slippers, dozens of books (including bibles, prayer books, and a copy of The Vicar of Wakefield), and much other such bric-a-brac, which McClintock regarded as “a mere accumulation of dead weight” that would have made hauling the oak-and-iron sledge even more exhausting.

Sir John Franklin and the Arctic Regions: With Detailed Notices of the Expeditions in Search of the Missing Vessels under Sir John Franklin. To Which is Added an Account of the American Expedition, under the Patronage of Henry Grinnell… .

Simmonds, Peter Lund. By John C. Lord. Buffalo, NY: Geo. H. Derby, 1852.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

Simmonds’ book is one of a series of reports on the “Progress of Arctic Discovery” that appeared in England and elsewhere from the first thoughts of the North-West Passage until the McClintock discoveries of 1859. As a group they tend to be largely derivative from similar works in the genre, but consistently provide a measure of hope that Franklin and his men survived, or their graves would be discovered.

Relics of the Franklin Expedition: Discovering Artifacts from the Doomed Arctic Voyage of 1845.

Walpole, Garth. Edited by Russell Potter. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2017.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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p. 98-99, relics found at Terror Bay, in boxes found near the sunken ship, with Gilder’s account most focused on the books: Tuktoocheeah said a box containing the bones was outside [the boat] but that a tin box of full of books was in the boat (Stackpole 1965: 74, 75). Gilder recorded that Ogzeuckjeuwock “saw books in the boat place” and confirmed that they were “in the boat,” as was the box of bones (Gilder 2006: 72)…. All of the writers recorded that there were three separate boxes: the first, a metal (tin) box held a number of books; the second, of similar size, contained bones; and the third box, of tin with a red cover held tobacco (Stackpole 1965: 75; Barr 1987: 73; Gilder 2006:73). The box holding the books was variously measured as “about one and half feet wide, one foot deep and nearly two feet long,” (Stackpole 1965:75), “one foot wide and two foot long” (Barr 1987: 73) and “two feet long and a foot square” (Gilder 2006: 72), and was the same size as the box holding the bones, which Schwatka incidentally recorded as two feet long. The different lengths were derived by hand signs from the Inuit (Stackpole 1965: 75). [Has anyone noted that these sizes sound suspiciously similar to the size of ASFS loan libraries. The tin doesn’t sound right however, but these would have been British products.]

Journal of a Voyage in Baffin’s Bay and Barrow Straits, in the Years 1850-1851, Performed in H.M. Ships “Lady Franklin” and “Sophia,” under the Command of Mr. William Penny….

Sutherland, Peter C. Two volumes. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1852.
  • 1848-51 British Expedition in Franklin Search (commanded by Capt. T.E.L. Moore aboard H.M.S. Plover).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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These volumes recount one of the early Franklin search expeditions, originally organized by Lady Franklin but adopted and furnished by the Admiralty, and which wintered near the Resolute and Assistance, and were also close to John Ross’s Felix and Mary expedition (HBC). Sutherland was surgeon on the Sophia, and appears from these volumes to have been a most panglossian optimist, as can be seen from some of the quotations below.

The Last of the Arctic Voyages, Being a Narrative of the Expedition in H.M.S. Assistance …, in Search of Sir John Franklin, during the Years 1852-53-54.

Belcher, Sir Edward. Two volumes. London: Lovell Reeve, 1855.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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Belcher’s account is clearly one which he wrote during his voyage, and is interesting in noting his use of books aboard the ship, books we know to be present since they are in the catalogue of the Assistance.

A Sequel to the North-West Passage, and the Plans for the Search for Sir John Franklin. A Review.

Brown, John. London: E. Stanford, 1860.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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This follow-up adds some opinion defending Franklin as the discoverer of the North-West Passage, but doesn’t appear to add much more on the Franklin Search and the earlier book. But the Harvard copy is an interesting one (Harvard Tower 120.) Presentation copy from John Barrow (Sir John Barrow’s son), with letters laid in, one dated Nov. 16, 1860: I am compelled again to differ with high arctic authority which is a matter rather of regret to me.—as you know how much I esteem

Resolute: The Epic Search for the Northwest Passage and John Franklin and the Discovery of the Queen’s Ghost Ship.

Sandler, Martin. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2006.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

[ABEBOOKS Description]: Almost everyone knows the photo of John F. Kennedy, Jr. as a young boy, peering out from under his father's desk in the Oval Office. But few realize that the desk itself plays a part in one of the world's most extraordinary mysteries - a dramatic tale that has never before been told in its full scope. Acclaimed historian Martin Sandler - a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, winner of seven Emmy Awards, and author of more than 50 books - finally brings the entire story to light. This amazing high-seas adventure encompasses the search for the Northwest Passage in the early 1800s; a renowned explorer and his crew of 128 men who vanish during an 1845 expedition; 39 incredible, heroic attempted rescue missions; a ghost ship that drifts for more than 1,200 miles; a queen's gratitude; and that famous desk. Fascinating rare photographs, paintings, engravings, and maps illustrate the book throughout. It all began when, in one of the biggest news stories of the 19th century, Sir John Franklin and his ships the Erebus and the Terror disappeared while attempting to locate the fabled Northwest Passage. At the request of Franklin's wife, Lady Jane, the first mission set out from England in hopes of finding him; many others followed in its wake, none successful. Among these was the Resolute, the finest vessel in Queen Victoria's Navy. But in 1854 it became locked in Arctic ice and was abandoned by its captain. A year later, a Connecticut whaler discovered it 1,200 miles away - drifting and deserted, a 600-ton ghost ship. He and his small crew boarded the Resolute, and steered it through a ferocious hurricane back to New London, Connecticut. The United States government then reoutfitted the ship and returned it to the thankful Queen. In 1879, when the Resolute was finally retired, she had the best timbers made into a desk for then-President Rutherford B. Hayes. It is still used by U.S. presidents today— one of the most celebrated pieces of furniture in the White House.