Adolphus W. Greely / [Anon.] - A Handbook of Polar Discoveries / Arctic Pilot, Volume II - 1910-1921

Handbooks of polar discoveries and arctic navigation

History of arctic exploration

Adolphus W. Greely
A Handbook of Polar Discoveries
Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1910 (5th edition, revised & enlarged))

12mo (20.5x14.5 cm); [viii], 325pp. Illustrated with many pictures and pull-out folding maps. Hardcover bound in original publisher’s cloth, with gilt titles on spine and front board.

Ex-library copy, but in good minus condition: Couple library markings, a bit of wear on binding and front cover, corners and spine ends. Folding map with tape repairs.

Greely's intention with his book 'A Handbook of Polar Discoveries' is to provide a comprehensive and accessible compilation of the various explorations and discoveries made in the polar regions. The book aims to inform and educate readers about the history, achievements, and challenges faced by explorers in the Arctic and Antarctic. Greely seeks to document the progress of human understanding of these remote and harsh environments, highlighting the contributions of different expeditions and the scientific advancements that have resulted from these explorations. “It is confidently believed that no important Arctic geographic addition to knowledge has been omitted from this record. Avoiding the strictly chronological plan usual in most polar summaries, the topical method of treatment has been followed, as presenting sharper pictures of local conditions and clearer ideas of relative advances in the various geographical districts.”

WITH:

[Anon.]
Arctic Pilot, Volume II: Iceland, Greenland Sea, Spitsbergen and the East Coast of Greenland
London: His Majesty's Stationery Office [HMSO], 1921 (Third edition)

8vo (24x15 cm); xxvi, 372pp + plates & map. Illustrated with 14 b/w plates + fold-out map. Grey hardback cloth cover. 

Good minus condition. Wear on binding and covers. Exterior grubby, interior clean.

Coast pilot guide to Arctic waters during and after World War I issued about the time of the Russian Revolution, and offered key navigational guides for Naval forces during the ill-fated White Russia Revolution, and over 13,000 troops in the Polar Bear Expedition. Prior to modern GPS systems and satellite navigation, these regularly updated and revised navigation handbooks provided key sailing instructions, often drawing not only from Russian and British sources, but also sailing reports from U.S. Navy vessels, and those from merchant ships.