BACK, GEORGE, Sir Narrative of an Expedition in H.M.S. Terror, undertaken with a view to Geographical Discovery on The Arctic Shores, in the years 1836-7.
London: John Murray, 1838. First edition. Period three-quarters purple calf, marbled sides, all edges sprinkled red. 8 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches (21 x 13 cm); viii, 456 pp., terminal folding chart of Hudson's Strait, 12 lithographic plates. Light binding wear and rubbing, occasional minor toning or pale foxing to plates, in all a sound and attractive copy.

Back's final Arctic voyage, the Frozen Strait expedition, was an extraordinary affair, in which his vessel was icebound for ten long months, with such misadventures encountered as being jammed against a cliff (and raised some forty feet above the surface) by the pressure from the ice. The vessel, a stoutly-made bomb ship, survived these extraordinary rigors, though in near-sinking condition, as did her men (save for some few who died of scurvy). Back was an artist of talent, and the plates in this book are exceptionally good. Arctic Bibliography 850; Hill 44; Ricks p. 30; Sabin 2617; TPL 2033.

C The Collection of Jay I. Kislak sold to benefit the Kislak Family Foundation

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