Plunge into the thrilling story of Arctic exploration with this exclusive Folio edition. Historian Fergus Fleming gathers 28 gripping first-hand accounts that capture the bravery, hardship and awe of the frozen north. With over 100 breathtaking images, you’ll journey across vast tundras and icy frontiers where few dared tread.
US$190.00
Share
You can copy this link into emails, text messages or post it on social media.
The Arctic explorers of the 19th century were the equivalent of 20th century astronauts, heroic figures who crossed the borders of the known world, amidst cold and darkness, searching for the North-West Passage and the North Pole, fêted on their return or universally mourned if they failed to do so. Exclusively for the Folio Society, Arctic historian Fergus Fleming has selected 28 first-hand expedition accounts and over 100 images to tell the great adventure of Arctic exploration, from Buchan, Franklin and Ross's 1818 exploits with walrus and Inuit to American Robert Peary's 1909 (now doubtful) conquest of the Pole. And all via the greatest Arctic story of all, the mysterious disappearance of John Franklin and the entire crew of the Erebus and Terror. These fabulous true tales are illustrated with paintings, photographs, artefacts, made-on-the-spot drawings and watercolours, with narrative captions and expedition introductions by Fleming. A binding design by Tom Etherington of wonderful darkness and foreboding strikes the perfect note for a story full of adventure, hardship and bravery, all just to be able to say, 'Mine eyes are the first to have ever looked upon this scene, mine the touch that has awakened the sleeping princess.'
Bound in printed and blocked cloth with a design by Tom Etherington
Set in Bembo with Mrs Eaves as display
408 pages
63 colour illustrations and 44 black-and-white illustrations
3 maps
Printed cloth slipcase
9¼˝ x 8¼˝
Printed in Italy
The search for the North Pole and the North-West Passage was a magnificent obsession of 19th century Britain and America. Fergus Fleming tells the story of these two great quests through word and image – extracts from the diaries and expedition accounts of the explorers themselves, original drawings and watercolours, ephemera, superb photography and glorious Arctic landscape paintings. Beginning in 1818 with an early (and naive) British expedition to search for the North-West Passage and concluding in 1909 with American Robert Peary's achievement of the North Pole (or so he thought), Arctic is full of incredible stories of sheer survival, outright determination and encounters in unknown lands almost unimaginable today.
About Fergus Fleming
Fergus Fleming is a travel writer and editor, with a special interest in Arctic exploration. His books include the acclaimed Barrow’s Boys (1998) and Ninety Degrees North (2001), both about the quest for the North-West Passage and the North Pole, Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps (2000), and The Sword and the Cross: The Conquest of the Sahara (2003). Fleming is the nephew of Ian Fleming, and has written widely about him, as well as editing a collection of his James Bond letters, The Man with the Golden Typewriter (2015).
Compiled, written and edited by Peter Gillman for The Folio Society, Everest: From Reconnaissance to Summit is an exclusive record of five key expeditions, introduced by Wade Davis and Jan Morris with superlative photography from the Royal Geographical Society archives.
Andrew Chaikin selects stunning new photography for The Folio Society edition of A Man on the Moon – his commanding history of the Apollo missions, with an introduction by Tom Hanks.
Pole to Pole is Michael Palin’s account of his epic journey from the Arctic to Antarctic, via the USSR, Africa and South America: a classic adventure in a beautiful Folio Society edition, with superb original photography.
Relish the thrilling horror of Frankenstein in Folio’s stunning new edition. Mary Shelley's darkly disturbing tale is illustrated by Angela Barrett and newly introduced by Richard Holmes.
