From Pole to Pole: The Life of Quintin Riley, 1905-1980.

Riley, Jonathan P. Bluntisham, UK: Bluntisham Books, 1989.
  • Arctic Reading: General
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Quinton Riley was the Quarter Master of the British Graham Land Expedition, and this biography includes one full chapter on his participation in the BGLE (p. 55-95). He is described as a good-natured but argumentative colleague, of firm religious convictions, and a valuable member of the expedition staff.

Cold Comfort: My Love Affair with the Arctic.

Rowley, Graham W. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1996.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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This is a rather dry account of a mid-1930s expedition to map the coastline of Baffin Island and the Foxe Basin and also some archaeological work on Thule and Dorset cultures. There are scattered reading references:

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
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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:

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket….

Poe, Edgar Allan. New York: Library of America, 1984. p. 1003-1182.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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Fictional account of mutiny on Grampus, June 1827, followed by rescue by a whaler which sailed nearly to the South Pole. Very little about books, but the cabin of Pym’s friend Augustus contained “a table, a chair, and a set of hanging shelves full of books, chiefly books of voyages and travels” (p. 1021). When Pym, a stowaway, was first hidden before departure he describes his hideaway on p. 1024: “I now looked over the books which had been so thoughtfully provided, and selected the expedition of Lewis and Clarke to the mouth of the Columbia. With this I amused myself for some time, when growing sleepy, I extinguished the light with great care, and soon fell into a sound slumber.” That seems to be the last mention of books in this exciting and inventive tale.

Outfits for a Whaling Voyage.

Kirby, H. S. New Bedford, MA: n.p, [probably 1850s by H. S. Kirby, Dealer in ship chandlery and hardware, New Bedford], n.d.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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p. 3: outline has as its last item: “Ship’s library”:

Kalli, the Esquimaux Christian: A Memoir.

Murray, Thomas Boyles, 1798-1860. London: S.P.C.K., 1856.
  • Arctic Reading: Inuit and other indigenous people
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p.23: Some books and prints were placed in the hands of the youth, and he expressed the greatest delight in seeing views of ships in the ice, and the figure of an Esquimaux watching for a seal. After gazing for a few minutes at the latter, he uttered a cry of pleasure and said, ‘This one of my people!’ [p. 24 shows an engraving of a seal hunter. Among other places, Kalli was taken to the British Museum, the Crystal Palace (1851), the Horse Guard’s Stables, and finally enrolled at a missionary college in Canterbury, St. Augustine’s.]

Voyages of Discovery in the Arctic and Antarctic Seas, and Round the World: Being Personal Narratives of Attempts to Reach the North and South Poles; and of an Open-boat Expedition up the Wellington Channel in Search of Sir John Franklin and Her Majesty’s ships “Erebus” and “Terror,” in Her Majesty’s Boat “Forlorn Hope,” under the Command of the Author. To which are added an Autobiography….

McCormick, Robert. In Two Volumes. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1884.
  • Arctic Reading: General
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These volumes cover three separate expeditions with an autobiography, and can be found on the Hathi Trust. McCormick was the surgeon on Ross’s Erebus (1839-1843), also something of a zoologist who also was involved in the Franklin Search in the 1850s.

The Seaman’s Library Manual.

Howe, Herbert L. Prepared by Herbert L. Howe, Librarian. (New York: American Merchant Marine Library Association, 1939). unpaged.
  • Maritime Reading
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Intro. By Christopher Morley: I have seen the Green Box [American Seamen’s Friend Society library boxes] in use aboard American ships at sea, and I know what it means…to the reader off duty.

Peary: The Man Who Refused to Fail.

Green, Fitzhugh. New York: G.P. Putnam’s, 1926.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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A lightly disguised paeon to Peary and his endeavors, by a sometime participant in Peary’s expeditions

Narrative of a Voyage to Hudson’s Bay in His Majesty’s Ship Rosamond Containing some Account of the North-Eastern Coast of America and of the Tribes of That Remote Region.

Chappell, Edward. London: Printed for J. Mawman, Ludgate Street, 1817.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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Chappell was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy who published two books on his Newfoundland, Labrador, and Hudson’s Bay voyages. He was one of the first English explorers to spend time with the indigenous peoples, both Indian and Esquimaux. He was rather viciously attacked by William Gifford’s Quarterly Review; his own scathing response is included at the end of some copies of both of his books.

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.

Antarctic Days: Sketches of the Homely Side of Polar Life by two of Shackleton’s Men.

Murray, James and George Marston. London: Andrew Melrose, 1913.
  • 1907-09 British Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Nimrod).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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By two men of Shackleton’s Nimrod colleagues, and a preface by Shackleton himself. Murray was a biologist who served as chief of the base camp of the 1907-09 Nimrod expedition. George Marston was the official artist for both the Nimrod and the Endurance expeditions and drew illustrations of both. In his introduction Murray says that he did most of the writing and Marston “does the best of the illustrations.” Both were involved in the production of Aurora Australis.