THE NORTH POLE

THE NORTH POLE
Peary, Robert E
It's Discovery In 1909 Under The Auspices Of The Peary Arctic Club. New York, 1910, Frederick A. Stokes Company, First American Edition. (xxxii), 373 pp, six-panel colour fold-out map at end of book, eight colour plates from photographic enlargements coloured by hand, 100 B&W photographs throughout, three appendices, and an index following the text. Introduction by Theodore Roosevelt, who was on Peary's ship to wish him luck the day before he embarked on his final journey. Robert Edwin Peary (1856 - 1920) was an American Polar explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole. This claim subsequently attracted much criticism and controversy, and is today widely doubted. Narrative of Peary's last expedition, 1908-09, on the ship Roosevelt, describing the passage through the ice of Smith Sound-Robeson Channel, the wintering at Camp Jesup, Cape Sheridan, north of Ellesmere Island, and the march on the Pole. Peary's record was disputed by Dr. Frederick Cook, who claimed to have preceded him in 1908, but Cook's claim was disallowed, and many arctic scientists agreed that Peary was first to reach the Pole. It will probably never be definitively proven whether or not Peary made it. More than likely he got close and believed he did reach it. Gilt lettered spine and front board, embossed front cover with lovely Arctic motif. Some marks and minimal wear to corners, original navy blue cloth. Top edge gilt. First Edition with "September 1910" on copyright page. Handsome copy. New endpapers. Decorative Boards bright, a little worn at edges and a few minor bumps, VG.