1889. · London
by Collinson, Richard
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1889.. xi,[1],531,[1]pp. plus frontispiece, photogravure plate, and six folding maps. Publisher's original blue cloth stamped in gilt, gilt spine titles. Minor wear and soiling to boards, corners rubbed. Modern bookplate on front pastedown, hinges tender, three small institutional ink stamps, one embossed blind stamp. Very good. The expedition journal of Captain Richard Collinson, published posthumously, by his brother. Collinson led one of several search parties in the recovery efforts of the missing Franklin party in 1849. He and Commander Robert McClure were to sail to the Arctic as a pair, but were separated early in the voyage. McClure continued through the Bering Strait and eventually became the first man to officially cross the Northwest Passage, with Collinson delayed by ice and unable to reach Fort Barrow until 1854. Collinson actually came closest to the area where the Franklin expedition ended, and his geographical knowledge of the Arctic offered considerable insight into the elusive region. "Journal entries throughout record the course of the expedition, give information on currents, ice, dust and stone on ice, coasts, equipment for sledge parties, distances traversed, meteorology, animals encountered, and appearance and customs of the Eskimos" - ARCTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. ARCTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY 3351. TPL 3536.
(Inventory #: WRCAM54175)