Farthest North : Being The Record Of A Voyage Of Exploration Of The Ship Fram 1893-96 And Of A Fifteen Months' Sleigh Journey By Dr Nansen And Lieut Johansen With An Appendix By Otto Sverdrup Captain Of The Fram About One Hundred And Twenty Full Page And Numerous Text Illustrations And Coloured Plate In Facsimile From Dr Nansen's Own Sketches, Portrait And Maps Nansen, Fridtjof

Two volumes. Second UK edition, issued a year after the first, and the first bound in the elaborately decorated cloth. This is the official account of the first Fram expedition of 1893-6, "a remarkable achievement in Polar exploration" (PMM). The expedition was undertaken "with the object of investigating the polar basin north of Eurasia by drifting in the ice with the currents northwest from the New Siberian Islands across or near the Pole" (Arctic Bibliography). Original greenish-blue cloth over bevelled boards, spines lettered in gilt, decorative details on spines in gilt and silver, front covers elaborately blocked in gilt, silver, and red, edges of text block sprinkled red. Chromolithographed plate, colour folding map at page 304 of vol. I, illustrations in the text, many full-page. Yellow endpapers. Tips or corners rubbed on both vols. and light rolling to spine ends. Foxing to front free endpaper of vol I. and overall tanning to both sets of eps in vol II. An about fine set of this compelling account of polar exploration. Born in Christiana (Oslo) in 1861, Fridtjof Nansen was a multi-talented man who trained as a scientist, earned his doctorate in zoology, contributed to the field of neurological anatomy and worked as a museum curator in Norway. He was a great athlete and champion cross-country skier and he managed to combine his academic interests with his passion for the outdoors and adventure by becoming the first person to cross the unexplored interior of Greenland on skis. The Farthest North chronicles his next ambitious trip to the Arctic, the Fram expedition, in which he planned to take advantage of the ocean currents by getting purposefully trapped in the ice pack near Siberia, live in the trapped ship for a year or two while the ocean moved him slowly into position, and then set off by skis and dogs for the final leg. His bold plan involved the development of a new type of ship, which would resist the crushing strength of the polar ice, as well as newly designed sledges, skis and lightweight clothing. Even the crew's diet was extensively researched and planned, with the result that they avoided scurvy and all crewman made it back safely. Nansen returned from almost three years in the Arctic to international acclaim for the voyage and the wealth of scientific discoveries and observations he gathered. The Farthest North became a best-seller.