PBA Galleries

2 volumes. xiii, 335; ix, 397 pp. Engraved frontispieces in each volume; color folding map at rear of each volume; plates from art and photographs. 9¼x6, blue cloth. First Edition.

Roald Amundsen’s (1872-1928) famous first-hand account. In 1903 he went to Greenland aboard his ship, the Gjöa, where he crossed the Baffin Sea and spent the next two winters on King William Island doing scientific research. He was able to reposition the magnetic pole at more than 50 kilometers northwest from the previous position of famed explorer John Ross. In 1905, the Gjöa set out again to cross the “Northwest Passage,” threading through a labyrinth of ice floes and rocks. The Gjöa had nearly traversed the cursed passage, when the ship got trapped near the mouth of the Mackenzie. After harsh wintering, Amundsen and crew eventually arrived in Nome, Alaska in August 1906, thus completing their historic voyage. Contains two folding maps, one showing the route of the "Gjöa" through the North West Passage and the other showing King Haakon VII's Coast and Queen Maud's Sea.