RAE, John (1813-1893). Narrative of an Expedition to the Shores of The Arctic Sea in 1846 and 1847. London: T. & W. Boone, 1850.

8vo (221 x 136 mm). 2 engraved folding maps (backed with Japan tissue and treated repairing some tears). Modern quarter calf, marbled boards.

FIRST EDITION. "The purpose of the expedition, sent out by the Hudson's Bay Co., was to explore and map the arctic coast of Canada from Repulse Bay west to Dease and Simpson's farthest exploration eastward... or if Boothia Felix proved to be a peninsula, to trace the coast north to the place surveyed by John and James Ross, 1829-32. The narrative gives an account of the author's boat journey north from Churchill along the west coast of Hudson Bay to Repulse Bay, portage across Rae Isthmus and exploration of southern Committee Bay; the wintering at Repulse Bay, the spring journeys tracing the shores northwestward around Committee Bay, Simpson Peninsula, Pelly Bay and its islands, to the James Ross...Peninsula..., and northeastward along Melville Peninsula to Cape Crozier" (Arctic Bibliography). At Pelly Bay, Rae was the first to learn the fate of Franklin's expedition from a group of Inuit who sold him a number of Franklin relics including Franklin's Star of the Order of Hanover. Arctic Bibliography 14097; Field 1253; Graff 3415; Sabin 67428; Staton & Tremaine/TPL 2868; Streeter sale VI:3715; Wagner-Camp 187.


Estimate $4,000-6,000

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