Lure of the North.

Finnie, Richard. Philadelphia: David McKay Co., 1940.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Finnie was a Canadian photographer, filmmaker, and lecturer who gave regular presentations on the Arctic throughout the 1930s. He “spent a year in the western Arctic between Herschel and King William Island in 1930, revisited the region in 1934 and 1939, and gives here sketches and essays on its people, the Eskimos and the whites, and their way of life” (Arctic Bibliography 4991). In this work, he was particularly concerned with the impact of new sub-Arctic wells and mines, as well as other forms of development, on the native population. [ABEBOOKS 11/24/2019]

A Relic of Ross.

Mill, Hugh Robert. The Polar Record III no. 21 (January 1941) 354-56.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

Identifies a book which James Clark Ross had with him on both his Arctic and Antarctic voyages and which he inscribed twice to so indicate. The book is The Economy of Human Life, 1808, variously attributed to Lord Chesterfield, Robert Dodsley (Johnson’s publisher), John Hill, or even unascribed as a volume from the library of the Grand Lama of Tartary. It is a small book of homilies on the conduct of life, often published; this copy first belonged to Isabella Ross, sister of James Clark Ross. He had it with him as first lieutenant to Captain Edward Parry in H.M.S. Hecla in the high Arctic when he inscribed it: “Written on board the Endeavour [a sledge boat detailed from the Hecla] in Latitude 82 3/4˚ N. 27th July, 1827. Jas. C. Ross.” (p. 355)

Northern Regions: Or, A relation of Uncle Richard’s Voyages for the Discovery of a North-west Passage.

(London: J. Harris, 1825) [New York reprint published by Johnson Reprint, 1970.].
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

A serious account of four British expeditions intended to introduce children to the excitement and uncertainties of Arctic travel, without sparing the more gruesome aspects of exploration (death, storms, cannibalism, etc.) Good and accurate descriptions of amusements aboard, and relatively balanced accounts of the “savages.” The expeditions are Parry I, Franklin I, Parry II, and Cochrane’s overland journey to Siberia.

Cape Clay Diary, March 1 – June 21, 1884.

Brainard, David L. Dartmouth Digital Collections. https://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/brainard-diary/diplomatic/brainard-2-diary-diplomatic.html.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

To an almost hallucinatory degree, this diary by one of the six survivors is remarkably full of recipes and lists of foods and ingredients. A veritable wish list for foods, and even desirable books, as in entry below:

The Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins, Knt in His Voyage into the South Sea in the Year 1598.

Hawkins, Richard. Edited by C. R. Drinkwater Bethune. (London: Hakluyt Society, 1867).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. x-xi, quoting from North West Fox, or Fox from the North-west passage, London, 1635: And for books, if I wanted any I was to blame, being bountifully furnisht from the treasury with money to provide me, especially for those of study there would be no leisure, nor was there for I found work enough.

The Cruise of the Marchesa to Kamschatka & New Guinea with Notices of Formosa, Liu-Kiu, and Various Islands of the Malay Archipelago.

Guillemard, F. H. H. Second Edition. London: John Murray, 1889.
  • 1882-84 British South Seas Expedition aboard Marchesa.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. x: In these latter regions there is indeed but one thing that mars the traveller’s enjoyment. The book of Nature lies freely open to him, but without years of study he cannot read it. It is written in an unknown language. He is confused with the unfamiliarity of the character and the apparently insuperable obstacles it presents. Such at least were my own feelings, although travel in tropic lands was no new thing to me. The few sentences I have deciphered have for the most part, I fear, been already translated by others, and in giving them to my readers I can only express my regret that Nature's volume has not met with a better exponent.

Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1959.
  • 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Lansing was an American journalist who interviewed all of the survivors of the Expedition from the 1950s and used all of the extant journals (mostly at SPRI) to write this amazing book.

International Polar Expedition. Report on the Proceedings of the United States Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land.

Greely, Adolphus Washington. Two volumes.Washington: Government Printing Office, 1888. [U.S. House of Representatives. 49 Congress, 1 Session. Misc. Doc. No. 393].
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Greely’s official report is only 93 pages and records, mostly in monthly segments, the chief events of the expedition. It does not amplify what he already had published more expansively in his Three Years of Arctic Service (1886), but continues the defensiveness over some disputed actions. He is always concerned about the safety of the scientific records and other journals prepared by the expedition.

Interview

Ronne, Edith M. (Jackie). From her Interview with Brian Shoemaker, 20 July 2000.
  • 1946-48 Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This is Jackie describing Harry Darlington's mother: She was trying to convey something to us and we just didn't realize it at the time [that she disapproved of Harry and Jennie going to Antarctica]. She later sent money. I think she sent $250 worth of books for our library on the trip and asked us not to mention it to Harry. Harry was estranged from his mother at the time, which we did not know.

Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819, 20, 21, and 22. By John Franklin…with an Appendix on Various Subjects Relating to Science and Natural History [Dr. John Richardson]

Franklin, Sir John. London: John Murray, 1823.
  • 1819-22 and 1825-27 John Franklin Overland Journeys with John Richardson.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

p. 258: … I shall mention briefly, that a considerable portion of it was occupied in writing up our journals. Some newspapers and magazines, that we had received from England with our letters, were read again and again, and commented upon, at our meals; and we often exercised ourselves with conjecturing the changes that might take place in the world before we could hear from it again. The probability of our receiving letters, and the period of their arrival, were calculated to a nicety…. The Sabbath was always a day of rest with us; the woodmen were required to provide for the exigencies of that day on Saturday, and the party were dressed in their best attire. Divine service was regularly performed, and the Canadians attended, and behaved with great decorum, although they were all Roman Catholics, and but little acquainted with the language in which the prayers were read. I regretted much that we had not a French Prayer-Book, but the Lord's Prayer and Creed were always read to them in their own language.

Report on Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1883.

Garlington, Ernest A. Washington, DC: Signal Office, 1883. [Signal Service Notes No. X.].
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. 25, among supplies provided for the expedition: 45. 150 blank books. 46. 12 blank daily journals. 47. 280 star charts for auroras. 48. 750 forms No. 102 for self register. 53. 4 boxes pens. 54. 2 reams legal cap. 55. 4 reams letter paper. 57. 2 reams foolscap. 58. 4 quarts Arnold’s ink. 60. 1 reading glass. 69. 1 ream computing paper. 70-82. multiple copies of forms and instructions. 100-12. Various titles: Treatise on Aneroid Barometers; Admirlty Manual of Scientific Inquiry; Arctic Manual,1875; Vega’s Logarithms; Nautical Almnac, 1883 (2 copies); Nautical Almanac, 1884 (2); Chauvenet’s Astronomy; Chauvenet’s Trigonometry; Loomis’ Meteorology (2); Guyot’s Tables (2); Everett’s Deschanel; Bowditch Useful Tables; Negur on Chronometers (2). 135. Webster’s dictionary.