The Voyage of the Jeannette; The Ship and Ice Journals of George W. DeLong, Lieutenant-Commander U. S. N., and Commander of the Polar Expedition of 1879-1881
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1883. First edition. Hardcover. 2 vol. Large 8vo. [3], iv-xii, 440, [4]; [3], iv-x, [1], 442-911, [3] pp. Bound in brown cloth with gilt lettering and decorations on the spine and black lettering and decorations on the front boards. “Jeannette” is outlined in gilt with gilt decorations meant to simulate icicles. On each volume’s rear board the decorations and the lettering are done in blind. Pale yellow endpapers and pastedowns. Illustrated by a frontispiece in each volume, maps, and many illustrations on wood and stone. Includes a fold-out map in the text of volume one, a map in the rear pocket of volume one, and a fold out map in volume two. Edited by his wife, Emma De Long. Arctic Bibliography 3839. De Long was a Lieutenant-Commander in the U.S.Navy and commander of the Polar Expedition of 1879-1881. The journals narrate the expedition made under the authority of the U.S. Navy and financed by J.G. Bennett. The Jeannette left from San Francisco on July 8, 1879 and stopped at numerous places in the Bering Sea. The ship went adrift in the ice near Herald Island, November 1879. After drifting at sea for nineteen months, the ship was crushed and sunk northeast of the New Siberian Islands. Thirty-three men left the ship and twenty-five of these men reached the Lena delta where De Long and eleven other men died. The journal details the ice, the animal life, the drift in the Siberian arctic seas, the health of the crew, Northern Lights, storms, several islands, and the Lena Delta. A presentable set with beautiful vignettes of images from the expedition, including several miniature illustrations of the animals encountered along the way. Very Good. Item #000010625
Ownership markings in each volume, a tear to the rear pocket in volume one (not affecting the map), faint damp stain to the top edge of the majority of the leaves in volume two, small piece missing from the top right corner of the tissue guard in volume two, and shelf wear to the bottom of each volume; the boards are clean and bright, and the set is Very Good overall.
Price: $850.00