National Library of Scotland. Archives.

  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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McClintock Notes : [Murray 12604 1736] McClintock to Murray, generally showing McClintock’s involvement in every detail of the publication of his work.

Under Ice: Waldo Lyon and the Development of the Arctic Submarine.

Leary, William M. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1999.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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p. 149, on scattering of ashes of Hubert Wilkins at North Pole from the submarine Skate: While two men held red flares, Calvert [commander of Skate] read from the Book of Common Prayer, then paid a personal tribute to Wilkins….

Arctic Adventure: My Life in the Frozen North

Freuchen, Peter. . New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1935.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
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One of two or three autobiographies by Freuchen, this mainly of his life and adventures with Rasmussen during the Thule expeditions. A few things stand out: his total admiration for Robert Peary (of course for Rasmussen as well), his growing sensitivity to Inuit culture (thanks to his marriage with Navarana), and his lack of any literary pretentions. He scarcely mentions anything he does during his leisure time.

Schwatka’s Search: Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records.

Gilder, William H. New York: Scribner’s, 1881.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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Not to be confused with his Greely rescue, much of this earlier journey was published in the New York Herald for whom Gilder was a correspondent who also had gone in search of the Jeannette. The book credits the Schwatka expedition with confirming the loss of Franklin records (at Starvation Cove), the burial of the men and bones of the victims, the transport of one body home, and the recovery of the relics that went to Greenwich.

Those Greenland Days: The British Arctic Air-Route Expedition, 1930-31.

Lindsay, Martin. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1939. [First published 1931.].
  • 1930-31 British Greenland Air Route Expedition.
  • Greenland.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

A rather less engaging book than his later Sledge, but informative on an expedition to scope out air-routes across Greenland by meteorological observations on the icecap. Several reading references:

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 Walk to the Pole

Mear, Roger. New York: Crown, 1987.
  • 1985-87 ‘Footsteps of Scott’ Expedition (Southern Quest).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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Private British expedition tracing Scott’s trip in 1985, with Roger Mear, Robert Charles Swan, and Graeme Phippen, who walked from Cape Evans to the Pole. Did they have a copy of Cherry-Garrard with them? They quote from it frequently. They spent several days at Scott’s hut at Cape Evans, though they apparently were afraid to sleep in it. Given their views of the Scott expedition that may not be surprising.

A Voyage to the South Sea, Undertaken by Command of His Majesty, for the Purpose of Conveying the Bread-Fruit Tree to the West Indies, in His Majesty’s Ship The Bounty, Commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh….

Bligh, William. London: Printed for George Nicol, 1792.
  • Maritime Reading
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p. 156, in the course of the mutiny: The boatswain and seamen, who were to go in the boat, were allowed to collect twine, canvas, lines, sails, cordage, an eight and twenty gallon cask of water, and Mr. Samuel got 150 lbs. of bread, with a small quantity of rum and wine, also a quadrant and compass; but he was forbidden, on pain of death, to touch either map, ephemeris, book of astronomical observations, sextant, time-keeper, or any of my surveys or drawings.

The Crossing of Antarctica: The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1955-58)

Fuchs, Vivian and Edmund Hillary. London: Cassell, 1958.
  • 1955-58 TAE: Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs and Hillary).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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Fuchs wrote most of this book, including the chapters on the men who crossed from the Weddell Sea Shackleton Base to the Scott Base on the Ross Sea via the South Pole, with chapters on the Ross Sea supporting party written by Hillary who led that group. This is a thoroughly whitewashed version mostly omitting the conflicts between the two leaders. There are very few references to reading, though Hillary does say that “our library was well patronized” (p. 146). Some inferences can be drawn and we do know from Hillary’s other book that they had the paperback Penguin edition of The Worst Journey in the World, which they used to retrace Edward Wilson’s worst journey to Cape Crozier. Otherwise there are only fairly anodyne references such as these:

Diary of the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic Regions 1901-1904.

Wilson, Edward. Edited from the Original Mss. in the Scott Polar Research Institute, by Ann Savours. London: Blandford Press, 1966.
  • 1901-04 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott aboard Discovery).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Wilson was a prodigious reader. In addition to the citations below he speaks often of readings on medicine or surgery, presumably technical books he had with him on the expedition. He was also a devout Christian and would read his services when he couldn’t attend or in addition to attendance. Most notable was his reading of Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” during the fatal polar trip.

Deadly Winter: The Life of Sir John Franklin.

Beardsley, Martyn. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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A facile and not very original biography of Franklin, sloppily edited and proofread, but a decent enough overview.

The Red River Library: A Search after Knowledge and Refinement.

Castling, Leslie D. Readings in Canadian Library History. Edited by Peter McNally. Toronto: Canadian Library Association, 1986, p. 153-66.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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p. 154: Consequently, books were introduced into the colony only a year after the first party of settlers arrived at York Factory in 1812. The children “were instructed in arithmetic, reading, and writing, using books furnished at Selkirk’s expense from the British and Foreign School Society.” Lord Selkirk was very involved in ordering book sources for the community. HBD conducted an inventory including books in 1822, and again in 1825.

A Voyage Round the World; but More Particularly to the North-West Coast of America: Performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, in The King George and Queen Charlotte, Captains Portlock and Dixon.

Dixon, George. London: George Goulding, 1789.
  • 1785-88 British Exploring Circumnavigation to Northwest Pacific (Captain Portlock aboard the King George and George Dixon aboard Queen Charlotte).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
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Not clear who is writing these letters, signed as W.B., since they refer to Dixon. Dixon’s Introduction describes the author as “a person aboard the Queen Charlotte, who has been totally unused to literary pursuits, and equally so to a sea-faring life” (p. xxii). Some editions show Portlock as the author.

Writing the New World: Imaginary Voyages….

Fausset, David. (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1993).
  • Maritime Reading
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p. 3: the exotic literature of Europe “was most clearly manifested in fiction about the regions that remained unknown the longest….their works, too, would finally be overtaken by history and supplanted by scientific descriptions of the material and social worlds.” (his examples are Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver, Poe, Lovecraft)