Ice Pack and Tundra

An account of the search for the Jeannette and a sledge journey through Siberia

By William H. Gilder

New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1883. First American Edition xii, 344pp., plus 4pp. of advertisements. Frontis with tissue guard, profusely illustrated with full-page and in-text wood engravings from sketches and photographs, plus 2 maps and one coloured fold-out map. 8vo., bound in original publisher’s decorative green cloth with dark green clay endspapers, tight hinges and complete. Prior owner’s script inscription on second ffe, several related newspaper articles attached inside front and back cover. In Very Good Condition.

— Arctic Bibliography 5744

An Account of the Search for the Jeanette and a Sledge Journey Through Siberia. Gilder was a correspondent of "The New York Herald," and he recounts his experiences on board the USS Rodgers during the Jeanette Relief Expedition. The Jeanette expedition to the North Pole, led by Lieutenant George Washington DeLong, ended in disaster with few members surviving. The USS Rodgers was lost, however a sledge journey carried Gilder and the others across Siberia and eventually to America. Discussed is the discovery of DeLong’s journals and body by his companion George Melville. A well preserved original decorative publisher’s binding and copy.