Around the World: A Narrative of a Voyage in the East India Squadron, under Commodore George C. Read, by an Officer of the Navy.

Read, George Campbell, USN. In Two Volumes. New-York: Charles S. Francis, 1840.
  • 1838-39 American Circumnavigation (aboard Columbia commanded by George Campbell Read).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

Rear Admiral George Campbell Read had a distinguished naval career including service on the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) in the War of 1812, in the Barbary Wars, and in this Sumatra expedition as Commodore of the Columbia. I assume this is his book (OCLC catalogues it as his), but it is hard to tell since the author refers to Read in the third person, and to himself as one of the Professors. Whoever the author, he is a thoughtful, even elegant writer with a self-deprecating impulse not common among admirals or explorers.

In Search of a Siberian Klondike as Narrated by Washington B. Vanderlip the Chief Actor and Herein Set Forth by Homer B. Hulbert.

Vanderlip, Washington V. New York: The Century Co., 1908.
  • 1896 Russian-Sponsored Overland Expedition by American W. V. Vanderlip in Search of Gold.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Hard to know whether the charm of this book is to the narrator or amanensis, but it is a delight to read both for its human interactions and its elements of natural history and hunting. These exxcerpts give some flavor of the book, and there are a few comments on language and literature.

Son of the North.

Roberts, Osseannah. Boston, MA: C. M. Clark Publishing Co., 1908.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

A fictional romance of North Canada about immigrants from Scotland, with a few reports of reading incorporated into the novel.

Report on the Dominion Government Expedition to Arctic Islands and the Hudson Strait on Board the C.G.S. “Arctic” 1906-1907.

Bernier, J. E. By Captain J. E. Bernier, Canada. Dept. of Marine and Fisheries. Ottawa, CAN: Govt. Printed by C. H. Parmelee…, 1909.
  • 1906-07 Canadian Expedition to Arctic Islands and the Hudson Strait (aboard Arctic commanded by J. E. Bernier).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Part of the purpose of this expedition was to make territorial land claims for Canada “asserting Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic regions which are territory of this Dominion by right of cession made to Canada by the imperial government” (p. 3). It also restored a memorial tablet in honour of Sir John Franklin on Beechey Island.

Personal Letter to David Stam, January 15, 2018.

Jakups, Deborah.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Jakups is the Librarian of Duke University, a specialist in Latin American affairs, and an old friend. In early 2018 she served as a consultant at the Falkland Islands, when we had the following email exchange, about the book culture of the islands:

Seasons with the Seahorses; Or, Sporting Adventures in the Northern Seas.

Lamont, James. New York: Harper, 1861.
  • 1858-59 British Private Journeys of "Sport and Discovery" (James Lamont).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

p. 80, in a description of the cabin: As for reading, it is next to impossible, for I defy any body to read long sitting on a locker nine inches broad; also, the bunks are too dark, and if we try to read in them we generally go to sleep.

The Cruise of her Majesty’s Ship “Challenger.” Voyages over Many Seas, Scenes in Many Lands.

Spry, W. J. J. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1877.
  • 1872-76 Challenger Expedition of Natural History (George Nares and Frank Thompson).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

This round the world voyage was epochal including a visit to the Kerguelen Islands in Jan. 1874. It experienced some polar conditions but not many. It never wintered over, the best time for library use.

William Henry Seward.

Van Deusen, Glyndon. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

p. 531: He [Seward] had that insatiable expansionist Robert J. Walker draw up a report in 1867 on the resources and geopolitical importance of Greenland and Iceland. [Walker wanted to purchase them for resources but also to encourage annexation of Canada by the US. Seward had it printed.]

Does Anyone Read Lake Hazen?

Jackson, C. Ian. Edmonton, ALB: Circumpolar Institute, 2002.
  • 1957-58 Canadian International Geographical Year Ellesmere Island Expedition.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Describes a Canadian expedition to northern Ellesmere Island 1957-58 as part of the International Geophysical Year.

Ice.

Jones, Tristan. Kansas City, KS: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1978.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Narrative of the author's attempt to sail singlehandedly as close as possible to the North Pole.

The Antarctic Manual for the Use of the Expedition of 1901.

Murray, George, editor. With a Preface by Sir Clements R. Markham…, Presented to the Expedition by the Royal Geographical Society. London: Royal Geographical Society, 1901.
  • 1901-04 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott aboard Discovery).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. vii: Baron Nordenskiöld has told me that, during the voyage of the Vega, when the North-East Passage was discovered, the books most in request were the “blue book” and the “white book,” as they called the Arctic manuals.

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.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

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.