Polar Books Catalogue
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Sections : Antarctic; Arctic; Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society; Maps; Miscellaneous; Mountaineering; General Polar; Scott; Other travel; Whaling;
Reference 2769 (2057) Category Arctic; Author Various - Parry, Capt.W.E; Edited by Sir E. Sabine Title NORTH GEORGIA GAZETTE and WINTER CHRONICLE 1821. Publishing Information London: John Murray, 1821. Description 1st Edition: xii, 132 pages. Complete 21 issues 1819 - 1820. The newspaper issued by the Parry Expedition which wintered at Melville Island in the Arctic 1819 -1820. Ex Harvard College Library, Library bookplate to front pastedown, stamps to verso title page otherwise contents clean. Nicley bound in cloth covers with gilt titling to spine. Some very minor foxing to title page and wrinkling of page edges. A very nice copy. Arctic Bib.12547, Sabin 55714. Alone, months of sailing separating them from home, in the polar winter where the sun never rises, the two ships of Captain William Parry's expedition lay encased in ice from November 1819 to March 1820. In order to fully chart the North-West Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific, it was necessary to overwinter in the Arctic, something that no other British expedition had done before. To boost morale in these uncomfortable circumstances, Captain Edward Sabine (1788-1883), a senior scientist carrying out measurements of natural phenomena, founded and edited a weekly magazine, which ran for twenty-one issues and was made available to the wider world in 1821. Offering jokes, poems, stories and thinly disguised gossip, the members of the expedition contributed to the magazine with enthusiasm (after having first thawed their ink). This book offers unique insight into what polar exploration in the nineteenth century was actually like. First Edition of this weekly "Arctic" newspaper, containing poems, songs, humorous essays established to enliven the dreary months of the Arctic winter, originally circulated in manuscript by Parry's crew in 1819-20. Captain Sabine, the Editor, announced that "this Paper is solely to promote good-humour and amusement. Original contributions on any subject will be acceptable. The sportsman and the essayist, the philosopher and the wit, the poet and the plain matter-of-fact man, will each find their respective places" (pp. vii-viii). Aside from contributing to the upkeep of the expedition's morale, Sabine's scientific assistance to Parry was invaluable and in 1821 he was awarded the Royal Society's Copley Medal in recognition of his various communications relating to his researches during the expedition (see DNB). From the preface we learn that: "The editor of the following sheets feels it incumbent on him to state, that at the time they were composed, not the remotest idea was entertained of their fulfilling any other purpose than that of relieving the tedium of an Arctic winter; and perhaps of afterwards affording amusement to a few private friends at home. On return of the expedition, the interest which the public took in all that had passed during the voyage, induced applications for the perusal of the manuscript, which could only be gratified by its publication. In consenting to this measure, the contributors to the North Georgia Gazette are fully aware, that its principal recommendation to the public notice will be considered to arise from the peculiarities of circumstances and of situation under which it was composed; and they trust that they may be allowed to claim from the general reader the same indulgence, which they would have received, had the perusal of the chronicle been confined to the partial circle to which they originally intended it should have been limited: with this impression, no alteration has been attempted in the respective papers, in preparing them for the press." Price £290.00 Keywords qpolarq, Arctic, North Pole, qpolarq, arctic, polarbook, polar, S1-Arc ISBN Add this to your basket
