The North Pole; Its Discovery under the Auspices of the Peary Arctic Club
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1910. Very Good Plus. First Edition, 1st Printing. [9.75x7in]; xxxii, 373 pp., frontispiece, eight hand colored and 100 black and white photographs on 72 plates, colored fold out map at rear [18x18in]; Dark blue cloth covers with gilt lettering on front and spine, partially embossed illustration of dog sledge and explorer with American flag in ice field on front, top edge gilt with cut edges; Minor shelf wear to bottom edges and spine top and bottom, minor rubbing to rear cover, prior owner ink inscription on front free end paper, small chips to folding map edge and small closed tears in map folds and attachment to end paper [map includes Bradley Is (Cook) just north of Crocker Land (Peary), which is a 1st state and 1st printing point], tipped in publisher advertising for this book and others. Overall condition is Very Good Plus. [Arctic Bibliography 13230, Howgego III P10]. Item #14401
Robert Peary [1856-1920] was an active arctic explorer from 1886 with survey visits and six organized expeditions of Greenland and Canadian Arctic.
This is a narrative of his last expedition of 1908-09. His ship, the Roosevelt, traveled through the Smith Sound - Robeson Channel to Cape Sheridan on North Ellesmere Is. to set up winter quarters with 23 men.
Peary, Matthew Henson and four Inughuit guides, after a grueling 37 days to have attained the pole on April 6, 1909. However, there has been great controversy over the years, since none of the men with him at the pole could verify the position and there were questions raised after returning when others tried to validate the data.
Critical to the success of the expedition, and often overlooked, were the four Greenland Inuit (Inughuit) members OOqueah, Ootah, Seegloo, and Egingwah. These men provided the survival skills needed, along with Peary and Henson, for the expedition.
Matthew Henson was an African American explorer that was with Peary for over 23 years and accompanied him on many expeditions. He acquired survival, travel techniques, and language skills from the Inuit people and was also critical to the survival of the expedition. At the time, Henson did not receive recognition for his accomplishments and only later wrote a memoir of his arctic experiences in "A Negro Explorer at the North Pole”.
Price: $350.00