Alone.

Byrd, Richard Evelyn. London: Readers Union, 1939.
  • 1933-35 Byrd Second Antarctic Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

After several expeditions Byrd, trying to justify his solo wintering at Advance Base, felt restless:

Barrow’s Boys

Fleming, Fergus. . (London, Granta Books, 1998).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

p. 37, concerning the Parry and Ross Northwest Passage expedition on Isabella and Alexander, 1818: The officers, meanwhile, were supplied with a twenty-five-volume library of Arctic reference books, to which the Naval and Military Bible Society added ninety uplifting tracts to be shared between both ships.

Shackleton’s Argonauts: A Saga of the Antarctic Icepacks.

Hurley, Frank. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1948.
  • 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 72-73: While on the subject of salvage [from the dying Endurance], I might add that I recovered the volumes of the encyclopaedia from the chief’s cabin and a large part of my own personal library, as well as several packs of cards. Many a day we had cause to bless the fact. What tedious hours were whiled away in reading; what wonderful and purely imaginary fortunes changed hands at poker patience.

An Arctic Boat Journey, in the Autumn of 1854

Hayes, Isaac I. New Edition. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1871.
  • 1854 US North Pole Mission of Charles Francis Hall.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Hayes participated in Charles Hall’s 1854 attempt to reach the North Pole, and contributed a couple of versions of his account before completing this 1860 version, closely following publication of Hayes’s The Open Polar Sea.

A Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the North-West Passage…while in Search of the Expedition under Sir John Franklin.

Armstrong, Alexander. (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1857).
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

The Voyage of Investigator, with Capt. McClure, which separated from its consorts early in the trip, and struck off independently “with a firm reliance on a merciful Providence, and full confidence in our resources” (p. 74). Armstrong was the surgeon and naturalist aboard the Investigator.

Antarctica: An Encyclopedia

Stewart, John. Second revised edition. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1990.
  • Heroic Age 1901-1921.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 108, entry for “Books”: The first book published in Antarctica was Aurora Australis, a 120-page book written in 1908 by Shackleton and his 14-man crew of winterers to ward off boredom. They wrote it, printed, and bound it. Joyce and Wild typeset it, Marston illustrated, and Day created the covers. Shackleton’s printing press had been presented to him by Messrs. Joseph Causton and Sons, and they had trained Joyce and Wild in printing and typesetting. During Charcot’s Pourquoi Pas? expedition of 1908-10, Jules Rouch wrote a novel for a bet. It was called L’Amant de la dactylographe (The Typist’s Lover). Charcot brought 1,500 books with him on that trip. The Ross Sea party of 1914-17, under Mackintosh, had an Encyclopaedia Britannica available. On the other side of Antarctica Hurley salvaged some volumes of Britannica when the Endurance went down in 1915.

Narrative of a Voyage to the South Seas, and the Shipwreck of the Princess of Wales Cutter, with an Account of Two Years Residence on an Uninhabited Island.

Goodridge, Charles Medyette. Fifth ed. Exeter: W. C. Featherstone and sold by the author, 1843.
  • 1820-22 British South Seas Sealing Voyage (Princess of Wales).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Account of a sealing voyage (starting May 1820) off the Cape of Good Hope which led to shipwreck and abandonment (in Crozet Islands). Curious blend of adventure, piety, and natural history (esp. birds). The unpaginated preliminaries include a preface, index (contents), opinions of the press, and lengthy subscriber lists organized by place and edition.

Cold: The Record of an Antarctic Sledge Journey.

Gould, Laurence McKinley. New York: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931. [A limited edition was published by Carleton College in 1984.].
  • 1928-30 First U.S. Antarctic Expedition (Byrd on City of New York).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Gould was second in command of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition of 1928-30 and according to this account had responsibility for forming the Little America library.

The Great White South, or with Scott in the Antarctic. Being an Account of Experiences with Captain Scott’s South Pole Expedition and of the Nature Life of the Antarctic… and an Introduction by Lady Scott.

Ponting, Herbert G. London: Duckworth, 1921.
  • 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 1: I might almost say that I first met Captain Scott in Siberia. I may at least state that it was there that I first got to know him, for I occupied myself during a journey over the Trans-Siberian railway in January, 1907, by reading his recently published work ‘The Voyage of the Discovery.’ I had bought the two volumes in Tokyo, thinking that they might furnish appropriate reading for a journey in the frigid conditions of climate which prevail in Siberia at that time of the year; and during my two weeks’ incarceration in the train, as it meandered over a third of the circumference of the globe, from Vladivostock to Moscow, I found that virile story of adventure of absorbing interest. Little then did I imagine that I should one day meet the great explorer in the flesh; much less that before four years had elapsed I should be accompanying him on his second voyage to the Antarctic regions. Wonderful, indeed, are the ways of Fate in the framing of our destinies!

Zoology. 1845. Survey of the Voyage.

Hooker, Joseph Dalton. [Not found in WorldCat].
  • 1839-42 British Antarctic Expedition (James Clark Ross/Terror and Erebus).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. xii: Most especially does he find it incumbent on him here to return thanks to the Commanding Officer of the expedition (as is his first duty)… for the generous manner in which that officers’ private cabin and library were unreservedly placed at his disposal during the whole time the expedition was afloat.

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
 Preview 

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

Brown, John. Second edition.flattered London: E. Stanford, 1860.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

This second edition of Brown updates the summary beyond the significant date of 1859 and McClintock’s report. A final section is an unpaginated “Opinions of the Press,” ending with an encomium to Brown from Alexander von Humboldt (August 16, 1858), on the last printed [but unpaginated] page of the book. An excerpt is included here as a remarkable example of a reading experience from an unusual source: