Three Years of Arctic Service: Volumes I & II.

GREELY, Adolphus W.

$975.00

Item Number: 145350

New York: Scribners, 1886.

First edition of this narrative record of the harrowing Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. Octavo, 2 volumes, original dark blue pictorial cloth, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of Adolphus Greely to Vol. I and Fort Conger, Grinnell Land May 20 1883 to Vol. II, heavily illustrated with engravings, charts and nine maps, two folding and one in a pocket at the end of Vol. II. Inscribed by American lawyer and Democratic politician Edward Griffith Dodson on the front pastedown of Vol. I to Admiral Richard E. Byrd, pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics, and the members of his 1933 Antarctic Expedition, “To Admiral Richard E. Byrd and the remembrance of his 1933 Antarctic Expedition with the compliments of E. Griffith Dodson 10/19/33.” The recipient Richard E. Byrd conducted five Antarctic expeditions in his lifetime, situating the base camp ‘Little America’ on the Ross Ice Shelf, surveying the geological landscape, operating a meteorological station, and collaborating on military operations. Internationally recognized for his contributions to polar exploration, Byrd was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the United States Armed Forces’ highest military decoration, and the Navy Cross, the second highest honor for valor given by the U.S. Navy In very good condition with rubbing to the extremities, crown and foot of the spine of both volumes, ownership stamp to the front pastedown of Vol. I. A nice example with noted provenance.

Adolphus Greely was a prominent American polar explorer and military officer known for his leadership during the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. This expedition, officially called the International Polar Expedition, was named after Lady Jane Franklin, the widow of Sir John Franklin, a renowned British explorer who disappeared in the Arctic while searching for the Northwest Passage. The story of his grueling expedition follows the party's battles with Arctic ice and cold, where they endured frostbite, starvation, and cannibalism while awaiting rescue.