A History of Polar Exploration

(London, Hamlyn, 1974). 4to; original blue boards; laminated pictorial dustwrapper very slightly faded and rubbed; endpaper maps and prelim's mildly foxed; pp. 208, incl. index; profusely illustrated with maps, photographs and period documents. Very good condition. "The nature of the quest - into uncharted seas and virgin territory under appalling conditions and with, at first, no knowledge of how to deal with the unpredictable ice and murderous cold - offered a challenge that might, on the face of it, be hardly worth taking up. But all sorts of men, from many nations, took part, and these were as remarkable for their diversity as for their daring. Martin Frobisher, the Elizabethan adventurer; Willem Barents, the heroic Dutchman who was the first man to winter in the Arctic; Vitus Bering, a Dane in the service of Peter the Great, who forced a way east across Siberia and found Alaska, Cook - these were the pioneers. They paved the way for Nordenskjold, Nansen, Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott, Peary, Byrd; for the charting of polar seas and the mapping of polar lands; for vastly increased scientific knowledge and for new ways of not only surviving the cold but of living in it." Please note that this book is rather heavy, and postage will be determined according to destination and the customer's preferred method of despatch. .