Rink’s second volume of Eskimo Tales with his introductory sketch on their culture, based not on ornaments, weapons and other remains: But the time will certainly come when any relics of spiritual life brought down to us from pre- historic mankind, which may still be found in the folk lore of the more isolated and primitive nations, will be valued as highly as those material remains. In this respect the Eskimo may be considered among the most interesting, both as having been almost entirely cut off from other nations and very little influenced by foreign intercourse, and also as representing a kind of link between the aboriginals of the New and the Old World (p. vi). It is a fascinating collection of tales, with brief introductions noting the sources of the stories. Here are a few examples:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, with a Sketch of Their Habits, Religion, Language and Other Peculiarities….
- Arctic Reading: Canada
American Explorations in the Ice Zones…Prepared Chiefly from Official Sources.
- Arctic Reading: United States
A comprehensive and readable account of American expeditions up to the rescue of Greely, with reference to Great Britain only where necessary, e.g. to explain the Franklin search voyages.
The Belgian Antarctic Expedition under the Command of Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery. Summary Report of the Voyage of “Belgica” of 1897–1898–1899.
- 1897-99 Belgian Antarctic Expedition (Gerlache de Gomery aboard Belgica).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
p. 11: The forecastle for the crew was spacious, well-ventilated and lighted by a large skylight. It contained sixteen berths, supplied with good mattresses and warm woolen blankets.
A Voyage Around the World 1826-1829.
- Arctic Reading: Russia
Trip on Seniavin to survey coast of Kamchatka, the Okhotsk Sea, and the Shantar Islands. Travels from Kronstadt to Portsmouth, Rio, Valparaiso, Sitka, & Kamchatka. Stop in Sitka to observe the Russian colonies there under the Russian-American Company in New Archangel. Baron Wrangell was governor and the fort itself had been rebuilt after being destroyed by the Americans.
Birdie Bowers: Captain Scott’s Marvel.
- 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Biography of the sailor who went to the South Pole and then died with Scott in 1912. Brought up an evangelical whose father was a Freemason, the biography shows a gradual ebbing of his faith through the early part of his career until he was summoned by Scott from the Royal Indian Marines.
The Alaska-Klondike Diary of Elizabeth Robins, 1900.
- 1900 Private Visit to Alaska by Elizabeth Robins.
- Arctic Reading: United States
Robins was an actress, singer, feminist, and something of an adventurer; this diary covers only the Alaskan portion of her active life. Among other things she translated Nansen (p. 5), and wrote several novels and other books.
A Man’s Woman.
- Arctic Reading: United States
Norris’s turn-of-the-century novel is loosely based on George Washington De Long’s U.S. North Polar expedition aboard the Jeannette (1879-81). It borrows freely from the locale (Wrangell Island and environs), the beset and crushed ship, the forced march on ice and pressure ridges, the heroic commander, the few survivors finally rescued. He adds the love interest, a strong-minded woman who resists the commander, succumbs, marries, and subtly convinces the hero that he is the one who must achieve the North Pole for the United States, knowing his safe return to be doubtful. He sails from New York in a new ship clearly modeled on Nansen’s Fram. Sources in Greely’s expedition and parallels with Robert E. Peary, who had already begun his North Pole quest and was in Northern Ellesmere land at the time of publication, are easily drawn.
Obituary.
- 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Throughout most of the expedition, James regularly kept a diary, and his account of the time spent on Elephant Island gives perhaps the best insight into what conditions were really like for the 22 men left stranded there. Paper being scarce, he was forced to write some of his diary on spare pages in the copy of Lang’s Translation of the “Iliad”, which was one of the few books the men rescued from the sinking Endurance. The book is still in the safe keeping of the James family. His diary includes a number of maps and sketches.
Scott’s Last Biscuit: The Literature of Polar Travel.
- Arctic Reading: General
Polar expeditions have created a literature with its own history and style, and "The Frozen Ship" is a detailed and moving examination of the most intriguing and influential journeys into the eternal ice. Sarah Moss delves into the morbid fascination of expeditions that went terribly awry and the increasing interest in those that were rescued at the last minute, and she pays particular attention to the desire to find and even preserve long-lost explorers. Some of them, like Ernest Shackleton, Richard Byrd, and Roald Amundsen, have become iconic figures, while others, as important in their day, have faded into obscurity. Here, like wayward travelers, they are rescued heroically. (ABEBooks, from Strand entry)
Voyage of Visitation in the Church Ship to the Labrador and East Coast of Newfoundland.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Autograph manuscript diary (in the hand of Alan Broderick) of the journey of Edward Feild, the Bishop of Newfoundland of the Church of England, on the church ship Hawk. Includes lists of correspondents written to during the voyage and places visited. The ship sailed to various communities to conduct divine service and holy communion, often to very small audiences (exc. On Sunday July 2nd with an audience of 40, 25 of them children, at Red Bay).
1961 Lighthouse Keeper in Iceland
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
Reminiscences of service aboard USS Flasher (SSN 613) as yeoman submariner in 1966-69.
- 1966-68 US Deployment of USS Flasher to Kamchatka and Beyond.
- Arctic Reading: United States
The sub adopted as its honorary submariner the novelist Louis L'Amour, author of Western thrillers. Dale was the yeoman who corresponded with him, sent him a letter when they crossed the equator, and L'Amour in turn sent signed copies of all his work to the ship.
Greenland, the Adjacent Seas, and the North-West Passage to the Pacific Ocean.
- Arctic Reading: United States
O'Reilly served as surgeon aboard a whale-ship, in order to gather scientific information on the northern regions. He gives much information concerning Arctic zoology, whale fishery, natural atmospheric phenomena, observations of magnetic variation, the history and habitation of Greenland, and observations concerning the possibility of a Northwest Passage." Field - "The observations of the author on the natives of Greenland, are recorded on pp. 52 and 85, of which the last two are occupied with a vocabulary of their language. Five of the plates are illustrative of the features, or habits of life of the Exquimaux." According to Abbey an article in the 'Quarterly Review' called the book 'a bare faced imposition.' Stanton & Tremaine mentions the book is said to have been plagiarized from material prepared by Sir Charles L. M. von Giescke. Hill: Pacific Voyages, p. 219. Field: Indian Bibliography, p. 297
The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule.
- Greenland.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Joanna Kavenna went north in search of the Atlantis of the Arctic, the mythical land of Thule. Seen once by an Ancient Greek explorer and never found again, mysterious Thule came to represent the vast and empty spaces of the north. Fascinated for many years by Arctic places, Kavenna decided to travel through the lands that have been called Thule, from Shetland to Iceland, Norway, Estonia, and Greenland. On her journey, she found traces of earlier writers and travellers, all compelled by the idea of a land called Thule: Richard Francis Burton, William Morris, Anthony Trollope, as well as the Norwegian Polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen . . . The Ice Museum is a mesmerising story of idealism and ambition, wars and destruction, survival and memories, set against the haunting backdrop of the northern landscape. Bookseller Inventory #0670913952
Travel and Exploration sale. 27 September 1996.
- 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Item 169: copy of New Testament owned by Oates, given to him in Dunedin by H. R. Falconer, a Seamen’s Missionary, Nov. 1910, and present on the Terra Nova expedition. Items 171-75 are George Marston paintings.