To The South Polar Regions
A FINE COPY
The Cruise of the 'Antarctic' To The South Polar Regions
Edward Arnold, 1896.
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's blue pictorial cloth, decorated in silver and black. Black coated endpapers. All edges uncut. Frontispiece after a painting by W. L. Willie, eleven further plates after paintings by W. G. Burn Murdoch. A fine copy, in uncommonly nice condition. Faint traces of wear to the spine ends, but otherwise clean and bright, with sound hinges and internally fresh.
A beautiful copy of Bull's account of his 1894-5 Antarctic Expedition. While the expedition failed to recoup the cost of the venture with whaling en route as planned, it remains a notable expedition for its scientific achievements and setting a recent precedent for approaching and landing on the Antarctic mainland.
On the 24th January 1895 Bull and three of his crew landed at Cape Adare and claimed the accolade on being the first on the Antarctic continent. While research some fifty years later produced evidence for the sealer John Davis making a landing in 1821, Bull's achievement accelerated the cause for a landing party "wintering at Cape Adare before launching an assault on the magnetic pole" (Howgego). Among the scientific discoveries made was Borchgrevink's observation of "lichen growing on sheltered rocks - the first vegetation ever seen on the Antarctic continent" (Howgego).
Stock ID: 39306
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