Across the Sub-Arctics [sic] of Canada. A Journey of 3,200 Miles by Canoe and Snowshoe through the Hudson Bay Region.

Tyrrell, James W. Third Edition. Toronto: William Briggs, 1908. [First published in 1897].
  • 1893 Canadian Overland Expedition through Hudson Bay Region (James W. Tyrell).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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Tyrrell was accompanied by his brother, J. B. Tyrrell, on this 1893 excursion. He was responsible for most of the photographs, and this book is dedicated to him. Not very much on reading during this short expedition.

Observations on a Work, Entitled “Voyages of Discovery and Research within the Arctic Regions,” by Sir John Barrow, Bart. Ætat. 82: Being a Refutation of the Numerous Misrepresentations Contained in that Volume.

Ross, Sir John. By Sir John Ross, C.B. &c Captain in the Royal Navy. “Oh! That mine enemy would write a book!” (Edinburgh, London: Published for the Author, by William Blackwood and Son, 1846).
  • 1829-33 British Private Second Voyage to the Northwest Passage (John Ross aboard Victory).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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Ross’s heated personal defense against Barrow’s attacks on his reputation: when I looked for an historian I found a calumniator.

My Life with the Eskimo.

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur. New York: Macmillan, 1913.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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Stefansson’s account of his first trip to the North in which he begins to develope themes best shown in The Friendly Arctic.

Ice: The Antarctic Diary of Charles F. Passell.

Passell, Charles F. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 1995.
  • 1939-41 Third Byrd Antarctic Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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Passell was a paleontologist and geologist at the West Base of Byrd’s 3rd Antarctic expedition in 1939-41. Passell’s style is rather naïve (e.g., “Boy was it ever hot last night”), but he does mention a good deal of his reading:

The Voyage of the ‘Fox’ in the Arctic Seas. A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and His Companions.

McClintock, Frederick M. With maps and illustrations. (Philadelphia: J. T. Lloyd, 1860).
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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Two reading-related matters stand out in this account: the dependence on whalers for annual delivery of newspapers and other reading (see p. 111, 119), and the availability of an arctic library aboard the Fox, provided by the Admiralty, allowing M’Clintock to make regular references to past occurrences in polar exploration, including specific dates and places, and to verify later native accounts.

Ancestral Voices.

Lees-Milne, James. London, New York, 1975.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
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p. 31-32 describes a visit to Lord & Lady Kennet's home in 1942: Lord Kennet was luckily in bed with bronchitis so we were alone. K as outgiving as ever. The first glimpse of her showed how she is ageing. Her figure is noticeably spread, and not mitigated by the shapeless, sacklike garments she always wears. She is the worst-dressed woman I know; and rejoices in a sort of aggressive no-taste in clothes and house.

The Life of Charles Dickens.

Forster, John. Three Volumes. Boston, Estes and Lauriat, 1871.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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p. 482, from Volume III: It is also to be noted as in the same spirit, that it was not the loud but the silent heroisms he most admired. Of Sir John Richardson, one of the few who have lived in our days entitled to the name of a hero, he [Dickens] wrote from Paris in 1856. ‘Lady Franklin sent me the whole of that Richardson memoir; and I think Richardson’s manly friendship, and love of Franklin, one of the noblest things I ever knew in my life. It makes one’s heart beat high, with a sort of sacred joy.’ (It is the feeling as strongly awakened by the earlier exploits of the same gallant man to be found at the end of Franklin’s first voyage, and never to be read without the most exalted emotion.)

The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore.

Hutchinson, John Robert. (London: Eveleigh Nash, 1913).
  • Maritime Reading
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p. 42-3, description of life of impressed seaman: With books he was for many years ‘very scantily supplied.’ It was not till 1812, indeed, that the Admiralty, shocked by the discovery that he had practically nothing to elevate his mind but daily association with the quarter-deck, began to pour into the fleet copious supplies of literature for his use. Thereafter the sailor could beguile his leisure with such books as the Old Chaplain’s Farewell Letter, Wilson’s Maxims, The Whole Duty of Man, Secker’s Duties of the Sick, and, lest returning health should dissipate the piety begotten of his ailments, Gibson’s Advice after Sickness. Thousands of pounds were spent upon this improving literature, which was distributed to the fleet in strict accordance with the amount of storage room available at the various dockyards. [Footnote: Ad. Accountant-General, Misc. (Various), No. 106—Accounts of the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, Chaplain-General to the Fleet, 1812-7.]

Under the Pole Star: The Oxford University Expedition, 1935-6.

Glen, Alexander Richard. London: Methuen, 1937.
  • 1935-36 Oxford University North East Land Spitzbergen Expedition (led by Alexander Glen).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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A British expedition to North East Land of Spitsbergen, with a mixture of English and Norwegian crew, scientists and sailors. Glen was the expedition leader and wrote this account with a debonair and detached style. The assignment was to survey the north east region of the archipelago. Obviously this was a bookish group who did a good deal of reading but seldom reporting on what they were reading. The author himself seems prone to boredom and speaks of it fairly often.

In Search of a Polar Continent, 1905-1907.

Harrison, Alfred H. London: Edward Arnold, 1908.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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p. 22, re the Catholic mission at Resolution: The children are not only educated but clothed and fed. The girls are taught how to sew and how to make their own clothes, as well as how to read and write; whilst the boys, who are also trained in these latter academic, if elementary, exercises, acquire a variety of crafts which will be useful—in fact indispensable—to them in afterlife.

The Life of Sir Clements R. Markham.

Markham, Albert Hastings. London: John Murray, 1917.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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Pure hagiography by his cousin, also a naval officer. Clements had a short but early naval career which included service as the only midshipman on the Assistance on its 1850-51 search for John Franklin. He contributed to the Aurora Borealis and other papers of the voyage.