antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller
“ONE OF THE FINEST TRAVEL
BOOKS OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY”
96. BACK, Captain [George].
Narrative of the Arctic Land
Expedition to the Mouth of the
Great Fish River, and Along the
Shores of the Arctic Ocean, In the
Years 1833, 1834, and 1835; By …
Commander of the Expedition.
London, John Murray, 1836 [40110] £850
8vo. An ex-library copy, bookplate to front pastedown, small
stamp verso of title, gilt ink accession number to the spine
only, in the original brown diapered cloth, title gilt to spine
within gilt panel. Lithographic frontispiece and 15 other plates,
folding map at the rear, tables to the text. Plates somewhat
browned, map torn without loss, a little shaken, cloth slightly
rubbed and sunned at the spine, a very good copy.
FIRST EDITION, “now regarded as one of the finest travel
books of the nineteenth century” (Howgego). Back had
previously gained considerable experience as an arctic
explorer through his participation in the abortive Buchan
expedition and Franklin’s two overland expeditions. Back
was “one of the first competent artists to penetrate into the
Canadian Arctic”; the many water-colours and drawings
which he produced and which enhance his narratives
and those of Franklin “are now considered an invaluable
record of early northern history” (DCB). Although Back
was highly valued by the British Admiralty, he was not a
popular personality and he developed a fairly controversial
reputation as a dandy, womaniser and hopeless egocentric.
The privately financed, government-assisted expedition
described in this narrative was undertaken in 1833,
for the purpose of aiding members of the Second Ross
expedition, from whom no one had heard since 1828.
They were also to conduct scientific investigations and a
geographical survey of an unknown section of arctic coast.
They travelled overland from Montreal to Slave River and
Great Slave Lake, and descended the Thleweechodozeth
or Great Fish River (later renamed the Black River) to the
arctic coast, thence along Chanttrey Inlet to Ogle Point.
“The ice prevented Back’s proposed survey of the coast,
and after again wintering at Fort Reliance he reached La
Chêne, the Hudson Bay station where he had started over
two years before, in August 1835, having travelled 7500
miles, including 1200 of discovery. Besides his discovery
of a river over 440 miles long, he had made important
observations of the Aurora Borealis, and had given the
name of Montreal to an island afterwards sadly familiar in
connection with the fate of Franklin. In September 1835
Back reached England, and received a hero’s welcome.
He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s gold
medal, and was promoted by the Admiralty to the rank
of captain on 30 September 1835, by order in council
– an honour that no other officer in the navy had received
except William IV” (ODNB).
Howgego B3.
INSCRIBED TO THE DUKE OF
WINDSOR
97. BALCHEN, Colonel
Bernt; Major Corey Ford;
& Major Oliver La Farge.
War Below Zero. The Battle for
Greenland. Foreword by General
H.H. Arnold.
Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1944 [37699] £250
4to. 16 plates, maps to endpapers. Typical wartime browning,
but overall very good in the original blue cloth, lettered in
black, sunned on the spine and a little mottled at the edges.
FIRST EDITION. “This volume is No.29 of the first
one hundred copies … autographed for members
of The Explorers Club.” Signed by Balchen. This copy
further inscribed “To His Royal Highness The Duke of
Windsor from his sincere friend Clannfhearguis of
Stra-chur, 1945.” Seumas Clannfhearguis, chief of the
Fergusson Clan was a member of The Explorers Club.
Norwegian-born Balchen was the first man to fly over the
South Pole as Byrd’s pilot. During WWII he trained Free
Norwegian pilots in Canada, helped establish the USAAF’s
base at Qaanaaq in Greenland, worked in support of the
Scandinavian Resistance organizations and organized the
bombing of the sole German base on Greenland. Post-
War he commanded the USAF’s 10th Rescue Squadron
in Alaska.
98. [BANCROFT, Edward]
An Essay on the Natural History
of Guiana, in South America.
Containing a description of many
curious productions in the animal
and vegetable systems of that
country. Together with an account of
the religion, manners, and customs
of several tribes of its Indian
inhabitants. Interspersed with
a variety of literary and medical
observations. In Several Letters
from A Gentleman of the Medical
Faculty, During his Residence in
that Country.
London, for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, 1769 [32140] £1750
8vo (212 × 130 mm). Contemporary sprinkled calf, black
morocco label, spine gilt in compartments, sides with gilt
border roll. Engraved frontispiece of a double-headed snake
by M. Park. Armorial bookplate of Frederick Ponsonby, third
earl of Bessborough (1758–1844); later Isercleran booklabel.
Four small stains in upper margin of X3 and a few other leaves,
upper joint a little tender, but a very handsome copy.
FIRST EDITION. Edward Bancroft, “chemist and spy”
(ODNB), was an American by birth but moved to England
at the age of 23, where he spied for Franklin and then for
the British. In the meantime he had spent some time in
Dutch Guiana where he gathered the material for this,
his first book. It is, in his own words, “an account of the
unknown productions of an almost unknown country”.
The first part is devoted to the flora of the country; the
next to the fauna, in particular the snakes, with the
remainder being a detailed description of the indigenous
peoples and the local economy. He noted the transmission
of yaws by flies (on p. 385).
Garrison–Morton 5304.
Peter Harrington
antiquarian bookseller
Catalogue 57: Travel
Section 1:
World Voyages & Compilations
Items 1-22; pages 2-17
Section 2:
Africa and the Middle East to Persia
Items 23-95; pages 18-53
Section 3:
The Americas, Greenland
and the Arctic
Items 96-141; pages 54-77
Section 4:
Asia including Russia
Items 142-211; pages 78-105
Section 5:
Australia and Antarctica
Items 212-232; pages 106-117
Section 6:
Europe, including Constantinople
Items 233-276; pages 118-139
Section 7:
Mapping, Navigation and Naval
History
Items 277-331; pages 140-169
Index; pages 170-171