MOSS, EDWARD L.

Shores of the Polar Sea. A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875-76. Illustrated with Sixteen Chromo=Lithographs and numerous Engravings from Drawings made on the Spot by the Author.

London, Marcus Ward & Co., 1878. Folio. (49 x 35 cm.). Orig. full pictotial cloth. Richly gilt. Spine-ends repaired. First inner hinge strenghtened. Edges gilt. Halftitle with a stamp. (1-7)8-83 pp. With 16 mounted, fine chromolithographed plates, many textillustrations, 1 map. Title-page printed in red/black. Internally clean fine.

First edition. "It is believed by both Artist and Publishers that a much fuller and more vivid idea of Arctic scenery can be produced by careful chromo-lithographic fac-similes of the original drawings made by Dr Edward L. Moss during the Expedition, than by any rendering in black and white. The sketches are not designed to illustrate the progress of the Expedition, or any stirring events in its history, so much as the appearance of the strange and desolate country by the shores of which the ships slowly steamed, the wonderful phenomena of the sky, and the effects of light and shade produced by a midnight sun, or a mid-day moon, on the ice-bound rocks which form the scenery of the region. They are here reproduced ... in order to make them more generally accessible ... It must be added that the sketches are all the work of one hand - Dr Edward L. Moss, who served on board the Alert in the Arctic Expedition which left England on the 29th of May, 1875, and entered the Arctic regions on the 4th of July in the same year. Although the Expedition failed in reaching the Pole - which was among the sailing orders on which it started - it yet achieved results of the highest scientific and geographic value. Of what kind was the life they led - what strange experiences they gained of natural phenomena, and the freaks of light on ice and rock - the accompanying drawings illustrate with a vividness and fullness never before arrived at in sketches of Arctic life." (Scott Polar Research Institute).

Order-nr.: 54066