Three Years of Arctic Service

An Account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-84 and the Attainment of the Farthest North

By Adolphus W Greely

Signed by and Inscribed by Greely

New York, Charles Scribner’s and Sons, 1886, First American Edition, large 8vo; 2 volumes, [xxv], 428pp, xii, [1], 444pp, illustrated with 44 plates including frontispieces (one is engraved portrait) plus 9 maps — one very large fold-out map in rear pocket of Volume II, 16 Appendices, Index. Publisher’s dark blue pictorial cloth with beveled edges, bright silver spine and cover title lettering. Interior in very clean with tight hinges. Prior owner’s book plate matching the Greely inscription. A Scarce signed set in Near Fine Condition.

—Arctic Bibliography 6118.

This narrative of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition by the leader, Lt. Adolphus Greely, includes accounts of the battle with ice on the sea, the sledge journeys, the life of the men in camp and on the march, and the geography of territory explored; with a chapter on polar ice. Well illustrated and greatly detailed, the account combines narrative from journal excerpts to tell the story of one of the most celebrated and tragic of Arctic expeditions. The preface gives a good insight on the author. Though he is a stolid writer, it is an outstanding narrative. Appendices include notes on ethnology, natural history, ornithology, botany, and auroral displays. An excellent account of the American expedition of 1881-84, based at Fort Conger, Lady Franklin Bay, on the east coast of Ellesmere Island, which explored the north coast of Greenland from Cape Bryant to Cape Washington, the interior and west coast of Grinnell Land, and Hayes Sound on Ellesmere. All but seven members of the party perished of starvation before the survivors were rescued at Cape Sabine, Smith Sound.