Bøker i Cambridge Library Collection - Polar Exploration-serien

Berthold Seemann (1825-71), a German-born botanist and traveller, describes in this two-volume work, published in 1853, the years he spent as naturalist on the British survey ship HMS Herald, which sailed up the west coast of America from Panama and made forays into the Arctic seas.

Published in 1820, this two-volume guide to the Arctic was written by distinguished scientist and explorer William Scoresby (1789-1857). Volume 1 is a geographical survey of the region and includes information on ice conditions, weather, zoology, and the question of a northern passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

This two-volume work, published in 1831, describes an expedition in support of the North-West Passage exploration effort. Volume 1 focuses on the Pacific islands, including Pitcairn, where the author met the last Bounty mutineer, and documents the explorers' first summer in the Bering Strait and their encounters with the Inuit.

Published in 1855, this two-volume account by the captain of H.M.S. Assistance describes his unsuccessful mission to find the missing Arctic expedition led by John Franklin (1786-1847). Volume 1 describes the outward journey, Arctic animals, and the men's struggle against the cold of the northern winter.

This two-volume work chronicles the first successful crossing of the Greenland interior by Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) and five colleagues over two months in 1888. The books cover their journey to Greenland as well as the journey westward across the 'inner ice', and also include appendices detailing the expedition's discoveries.

Originally published in 1897, this two-volume work chronicles the expedition of Norwegian scientist Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), who came closer than any previous explorer to the North Pole. Nansen's boat was deliberately driven into pack-ice off Siberia in order to drift north; the expedition later resorted to sleds and kayaks.

The geologist Joseph Beete Jukes (1811-1869) was sent on a mineral-prospecting mission to Newfoundland in 1839. He published this two-volume account of the expedition in 1842. Volume 1 describes Jukes' arrival in Newfoundland, its rugged landscapes, and the daily life of settlers in its coastal fishing communities.

Explorer James Clark Ross (1800-1862) published this two-volume account of his 1839-1843 expedition to the Antarctic in 1847. The work, which includes oceanic and climatic observations, is an important contribution to the development of oceanography and scientific knowledge about the Antarctic.

Written by Arctic explorer Robert Edwin Peary, this two-volume memoir, published in 1898, recounts his exploration of Greenland, and his first attempts to reach the North Pole, in his expeditions of 1891-2, 1893-5, and 1896-7. Volume 1 documents Peary's first two trips of 1886 and 1891-2.

An enthusiastic promoter of polar exploration, John Brown (1797-1861) published in 1858 this account of previous Arctic voyages and the searches for the Franklin expedition. It is reissued here in one volume with its 1860 sequel, which covers the 1857-9 expedition that discovered evidence of the missing men.

This historical review of Arctic exploration was published in 1873 by the geographer Clements Markham (1830-1916). It includes chapters discussing Barents, Hudson, Spitsbergen, Greenland's east coast, Baffin Bay, Russian Arctic discoveries, and the best routes for future Arctic exploration, including plans for the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-6.

Arctic exploration from the Romans to 1859 is described by the explorer Sir John Richardson (1787-1865) in this work, first published in 1861. Richardson also provides descriptions of the Arctic's weather, ice, natural history and native peoples. The book's second part discusses the largely unexplored Antarctic.

Enhanced by engravings, this 1881 work illuminates historical and recent Arctic exploration in the region of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Albert Hastings Markham (1841-1918) summarises previous discoveries and voyages made by various explorers. He then gives a detailed account of his 1879 voyage aboard the Norwegian cutter Isbjoern.

George Francis Lyon (1795-1832) captained HMS Hecla on the second expedition led by William Parry in 1821-3 to find the North-West Passage. This illustrated account, published in 1824, describes the difficulties of sea ice and scurvy. Lyon also makes very perceptive observations on the Inuit.

This 1860 account of Sir John Franklin's life and of the search for him was written by the experienced naval officer Sherard Osborn (several of whose other works have been reissued in this series) to inspire the youth of Britain to follow the great explorer's example of duty and rectitude.

In 1865, the Swedish geologist Carl Wilhelm Paijkull (1836-69) made a visit to Iceland, a country that was still little understood by the rest of Europe. Paijkull's illustrated and wide-ranging account was first published in Swedish in 1866 and is reissued here in the 1868 English translation.

This well-illustrated 1854 work describes the zoological specimens collected by the survey ship H.M.S. Herald during its voyage into Arctic seas. The fauna collected include fossil mammals from the ice cliffs at Eschscholtz Bay, first discovered in 1816 by Otto von Kotzebue.

This 1875 manual, edited by geologist Thomas Rupert Jones (1819-1911), presents scientific data relating to Greenland and the Arctic. It was prepared for the British Arctic Expedition of the same year, aiming to inform and instruct the explorers. The expedition set a record for the furthest northern latitude attained.

This well-illustrated 1911 publication, translated from the French, vividly describes the hardships and satisfactions of Antarctic exploration and scientific research in the early twentieth century. The journal entries of expedition leader Jean-Baptiste Charcot (1867-1936) record daily life aboard ship and out on the ice.

In the early seventeenth century, Hessel Gerritsz (c.1581-1632) compiled this remarkable collection of texts in Dutch relating to early exploration and trade routes. Published in 1878 by Frederik Muller (1817-81), the present work also includes Latin and English translations, and a helpful explanatory chapter.

This illustrated account traces the 1785-94 Russian expedition led by Joseph Billings (1758-1806) to chart the east Siberian coastline and undertake scientific observations. Written up by Martin Sauer, the expedition's secretary, this 1802 publication includes descriptions of the peoples found living in the most inhospitable of environments.

Little is known about Captain John Frederick Dennett, who published this 1826 compilation of travel narratives. He was clearly familiar with developments in polar exploration, but he emphasises encounters with native peoples. As well as accounts of Arctic expeditions, he devotes a chapter to the activities of Belzoni in Egypt.

Dr Elisha Kane (1820-57) published this vivid account of an icebound polar winter in 1853. The Grinnell expedition was not successful in its aim of ascertaining the fate of Sir John Franklin, and Kane led a second attempt in 1853 while this book was in press.

This account of a German Arctic expedition was published in 1873-4 by its commander, and in this English translation in 1874. The Germania and the Hansa embarked for Greenland in 1869. They became separated, and the book describes subsequent events, and the remarkable survival of one of the crews.

This 1917 biography of his cousin and mentor was published by Albert H. Markham. Clements R. Markham (1830-1916) is remembered as a prolific writer, who, after an early career in the navy, spent his life in exploration, writing about earlier expeditions, and urging further research in the polar regions.

Published in 1852, this book is a collection of articles written by naval officers and men while searching for the missing Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin. Often light-hearted and entertaining, the pieces were contributions, by Sir John Ross and others, to the Aurora Borealis, a ship's newspaper.

Jane Franklin (1792-1875) was the second wife of the Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin. Published in 1923, this work, based on extracts from her writings, illuminates her strong character and world travels. Her determination proved especially crucial in discovering the fate of her husband's lost expedition.

The naval officer Frederick William Beechey (1796-1856) served under John Franklin during the 1818 British expedition to the Arctic. The two ships, Dorothea and Trent, were caught in ice and failed to find a route beyond Spitsbergen. This work, published in 1843, remains the principal account of the expedition.

In 1746, a privately funded expedition set out from England in search of the North-West Passage. While the expedition was unsuccessful in locating the sea route, it travelled further north than any previous attempt. First published in 1748, this account by Henry Ellis (1721-1806) generated great interest.

Reissued in its 1818 second edition, these papers by two fellows of the Royal Society, Daines Barrington (1727/8-1800) and Mark Beaufoy (1764-1827), discuss Arctic exploration and evidence for the theorised open polar sea. Relying on the testimony of others, Barrington's contributions, though flawed, retain historical considerable interest.