Arctic Searching Expedition: A Journal of a Boat-Voyage Through Ruperts Land and the Arctic Sea, in Search of the Discovery Ships Under Command of Sir John Franklin with an Appendix on the Physical Geography of North America
Author: John Richardson (1787-1865)
Year: 1851
Publisher: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
Place: London
Description:
2 volumes. viii+[1]-[414] pages with frontispiece, plates and folding map. vii+[1 blank]+[1]-426 pages with frontispiece. Octavo (8 ¼ x 5 ) bound in contemporary half blue morocco over blue pebbled cloth, spines ruled in gilt, 2 green gilt morocco lettering labels. (Arctic Bibliography 14489. Sabin 71025.) First edition.
John Richardson studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and became a surgeon in the navy in 1807. He traveled with John Franklin in search of the Northwest Passage on the Coppermine Expedition of 1819 1822. Richardson wrote the sections on geology, botany and ichthyology for the official account of the expedition.
Franklin and Richardson returned to Canada in 1825 and went overland by fur trade routes to the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Franklin was to go as far west as possible and Richardson was to go east to the mouth of the Coppermine River. These were the only known points on the central coast and had been reached in 1793 and 1771 respectively. He had with him two specially-built boats which were more ocean-worthy than the voyageur canoes used by Franklin on his previous expedition. They gave their names to the Dolphin and Union Strait near the end of his route.
Richardson's journey was successful and he reached his furthest east the same day that Franklin reached his furthest west (16 August 1826). He abandoned his boats at Bloody Falls and trekked overland to Fort Franklin which he reached three weeks before Franklin. Together they had surveyed 1,878 mi (3,022 km) of previously unmapped coast. The natural history discoveries of this expedition were so great that they had to be recorded in two separate works, the Flora Boreali-Americana (1833-40), written by William Jackson Hooker, and the Fauna Boreali-Americana (1829-37), written by Richardson, William Swainson, John Edward Gray and William Kirby.
Condition:
Bindings heavily worn at spines and extremities, some color restoration to boards, board edges worn, fps. with bookplate removal residue, endleaves offset, text and plates a bit toned, folding map toned, repaired, and backed with paper else good.
