RE: Adolphus W. Greely

Government Printing Office., Washington,1888. 4to. (29 centimeters high). In two Volumes: Volume l, 545 pp. including 3 folding maps and numerous plates and illustrations. Volume ll, 738 pp, errata bound in, including 6 folding pages providing the results of various scientific observations. Both volumes in original publisher’s dark brown cloth with gilt lettering. Hinges tight; covers slightly scuffed but generally clean and unmarked; corners bumped; text clean and crisp. A complete set in Very Good+ condition. This complete and difficult to find set is typically found with institutional markings, but this set bears no prior ownership markings – a very clean set internally.

Greely’s concise and detail documentation of The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition commanded by Lt. Adolphus W. Greely. The first 97 pages in Volume I are Greely’s, the rest consists of 128 Appendices of related material. Volume II continues the appendices, and then lists all the scientific results – meteorology, magnetism, tides, pendulum observations, etc.

Adolphus Greely was a U.S. Army officer whose scientific expedition to the Arctic resulted in the exploration of a considerable amount of terrain on Ellesmere Island, Canada, and on coastal Greenland, where he also set a contemporary record by reaching 83º24’ N latitude; the mission, however, ended in tragedy. During the first International Polar Year, a joint program of scientific research sponsored by 11 nations (1882-83), Greely commanded the U.S. station at Fort Conger on northeastern Ellesmere Island. From August 1881 to August 1883 the expedition, consisting of 25 officers and men, recorded 500 observations each day on weather and tides and collected and studied samples of minerals, flora, and fauna. Discoveries made on sledge trips included Lake Hazen and Greely Fjord on the western side of Ellesmere. When a relief ship failed to arrive in early August 1883 the party abandoned Fort Conger and moved southward in small boats. Covering 500 miles (805 kilometers) in 51 days, the men landed at Bedford Pym Island in Smith Sound on October 15. There they faced a winter of 250 days with rations for 40 days and, before the ordeal was over, were reduced to eating their own leather clothing. Tragically, only Greely and six others survived. Much of Greely’s later army work involved laying communications lines in the Philippines, Alaska, and elsewhere. He was promoted to chief signal officer and brigadier general in 1887. In 1888 he helped found the American Geographical Society. His many published works include Three Years of Arctic Service (1886) and Handbook of Polar Discoveries.

$850.00 -