2 volumes. [6], xxiv, 365, [2] pp.; [6], 411, [1] pp. Each with frontispiece, maps and numerous plates. Octavo (22 cm), original publisher's green cloth boards with gilt lettering, maritime vignette in black and gold on upper boards, black border along top and bottom edges; some unopened pages. First trade edition.
Dedication page tipped in volume 1, reproduced letter/autograph from a Mr. Jackson of the New York Herald (both of which are dated December 1892, leading to likely publication date of 1893). A compendium of reports from the New York Herald translated into French, regarding the Arctic voyage of the USS Jeannette.
The Herald's owner, James Gordon Bennett Jr., was enamoured with the "Open Polar Sea" theory which held that the warm waters of the Gulf Stream flowed north to melt a "thermometric gateway" to the North Pole (Howgego, D4). He owned the Jeannette and sent the ship (under naval command) off to look for an overdue Swedish ship in 1879. The journey was by any measure an unmitigated disaster. Within a few months, the Jeannette got stuck in an ice pack. The crew continued to record scientific data and actually discovered two new islands before having to abandon ship in June 12, 1881, when the weight of the ice crushed the ship. The crew was forced to hike down the Siberian coast, and many members (including Captain George DeLong) died there.
Donated by Elk River Books, Livingston, MT.