Narrative of a Voyage of H.M.S. Herald during the Years 1845-51, under the Command of Captain Henry Kellett…being A Circumnavigation of the Globe.

Seemann, Berthold. Two volumes. London: Reeve and Co., 1853.
  • 1845-51 British Voyage of Exploration to the West Coast and the Pacific (Commanded by Henry Kellett aboard HMS Herald).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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This expedition was focused on the US West Coast and Pacific natural history rather than high latitudes though it did reach the Bering Strait. Its focus was chiefly botanical.

The Arctic Whalers.

Lubbock, Basil. Glasgow: Brown, Son and Ferguson, 1937.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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An engaging history of Arctic whaling.

The Ascent of Denali (Mount McKinley): A Narrative of the First Complete Ascent of the Highest Peak in North America.

Stuck, Hudson. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914.
  • 1913-18 US Private Journeys round the Coast and Interior of Alaska (Hudson Stuck, “Archbishop of the Yukon”).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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Unfortunately, most of the readings recorded in Stuck’s first book have only to do with temperature readings, with a few minor exceptions, compared to the prodigious reading recorded in his other books.

Three Years of Arctic Service, An Account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-84 and the Attainment of the Farthest North.

Greely, Adolphus Washington. Two volumes. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1886.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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These volumes are Greely’s personal, not official, somewhat sanitized version of his expedition and its aftermath. Much of the work is taken from Greely’s journals, and those passages are given within quotation marks, as in the original publication.

Journal of a Voyage Around the World: A Year on the Ship Helena(1841-1842).

King, Thomas Worthington. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2003.
  • Arctic Reading: General
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Although not strictly Antarctic bound or a circumnavigation, this voyage did round Cape Horn and reached almost 59 degrees south. King was a recent Harvard graduate when he took this voyage from New York to Canton, and after brief work there he continued on another ship back to New York. He was a fast reader and regular in his comments about reading. What follows is taken verbatim from the journal of his voyage.

A Narrative of Arctic Discovery, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, with the Details of the Measures Adopted by Her Majesty’s Government for the Relief of the Expedition under Sir John Franklin.

Stillinglaw, John J. London: William Shoberl, 1850.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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p. 114, Luke (Lucus) Fox on his own book: “Gentle reader,— expect not here any florishing phrases or eloquent tearmes, for this child of mine, begot in the north-west’s cold clime (where they breed no scholleers), is not able to digest the sweet milke of Rethorick, &c.”

Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration.

Roberts, David. New York: Norton, 2013.
  • 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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A straightforward rehash of the Mawson story, at somewhat greater length than others, but competently done. He doesn’t neglect the books and reading which is fairly well documented for this expedition. He makes the mistake of taking Huntford as gospel truth, assuming for example Kathleen Scott’s affair with Nansen. He also disparages Bickel’s Mawson’s Will, though that book is a much more dramatic telling of Mawson’s story.

Narrative of the Overland Journey of Sir John and Lady Franklin and Party from Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour 1842.

Burn, David. Edited by George Mackaness. Sydney: D.S. Ford, 1955.
  • Arctic Reading: General
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Burn accompanied the Franklin’s on this apparently epochal journey through what are evidently difficult terrain, weather, and rivers. Burn kept a travel diary of the experience with full respect for the Governor General and his wife. Most interesting is his account of Franklin as preacher: p. 15, Sunday, 3rd May 1842: By 8 A.M., every tent, save Lady Franklin’s, had been struck, most of the knapsacks packed, and breakfast speedily thereafter dispatched. His Excellency very shortly summoned the men, and in a thrilling tone of most impressive earnestness, read the morning service, to which he added a short but very striking sermon on the edict of Darius which consigned Daniel to the den of lions. In many a gorgeous temple have I listed to the soul-reviving promises of the Scriptures, but I much question if ever the language of sacred truth was more generally or attentively heard, than whilst delivered amid drizzling rain in the wild bush, to some who had proved most reckless violators of their country’s laws [20 convicts were on the journey as carriers and palanquin-bearers]. May the truths of that holy hour live in their hearts, and sanctify our own. The weather becoming worse and worse, with every indication of an unfavourable continuance, Lady Franklin, too, remaining considerably indisposed, the tents were once more pitched, and our quarters reoccupied for the dreary uncomfortable day.

A Gipsy of the Horn.

Clements, Rex. London: Hart-Davis, 1951. First edition. (London: Heath, Cranton, 1924).
  • Maritime Reading
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An account of a young mariners first voyage, including this passage on reading during a voyage around the world:

Ten Months Among the Tents of the Tuski, with Incidents of an Arctic Boat Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, as far as the Mackenzie River, and Cape Bathurst.

Hooper, William H. (London: John Murray, 1853).
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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William Hulme Hooper (1827-1854) was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and part of the 1848 expedition aboard the Plover, under the command of Capt. T. E. L. Moore, to search for the ill-fated Franklin expedition. Moore's expedition spent three years in the high Arctic, wintering the first year (1848-1849) on the Chukotsk Peninsula, later sailing to the Beaufort Sea. From there, Hooper made two overland trips up the Mackenzie River to Fort Simpson, on the second of which he travelled overland to Norway House, The Pas, and south through what is now Manitoba to reach the voyageur route back to Montreal, and thence to England (see Arctic Bibliography 7395). This is a very scarce account, seldom mentioned in most histories of Arctic exploration, and often overlooked in the lore of the search for Sir John Franklin and his party. Notwithstanding, Hooper's account is full of interesting information and observations, including detailed descriptions of the life, customs, dwellings, clothing and beliefs of the Chukchis (Tuski), and of the North Alaska Eskimo generally; as well as notes on the Mackenzie Eskimo and Indians, sea and river ice, hunting and trapping, and the character of the territory covered in his journeys.

Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1825, 1826, and 1827,… Including an Account of the Progress of a Detachment to the Eastward, by John Richardson.

Franklin, John, Sir. London: John Murray, 1828. [Facsimile ed. NY: Greenwood Press, 1969].
  • 1819-22 and 1825-27 John Franklin Overland Journeys with John Richardson.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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p. xvii, on supplies for the expedition: There was likewise an ample stock of tobacco, a small quantity of wine and spirits, marquees and tents for the men and officers, some books, writing and drawing paper, a considerable quantity of cartridge-paper, to be used in preserving specimens of plants…together with many articles to be used at winter-quarters, for the service of the post, and for the supply of our Indian hunters….

The Bibliographical Miscellany.

Petheram, John, ed. 5 numbers printed. (London: John Russell Smith,1859).
  • 1812-13 British Naval Expedition in Northwest Passage Search (commanded by Thomas Button aboard Resolution).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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The first three numbers of this journal deal with the North-West Passage and the 1612-13 voyage of Sir Thomas Button.