Memoirs of Lieutenant Joseph Rene Bellot... With his Journal of a Voyage in the Polar Seas, in search of Sir John Franklin

First English edition. 2 vols. Frontispiece portrait. 8vo. Original brown publisher's cloth, stamped in blind and gilt, light shelf wear, book society label on rear pastedown of first volume, light toning and soiling in text but a very good copy. vii, 391, [5]; [2], 403, [24]pp. London, Hurst and Blackett,

Translated from the French edition of the previous year (both published posthumously). The journal of Joseph Bellot (1826-53), detailing his time with an expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, serving as second in command under Capt. William Kennedy on the Prince Albert. The expedition, which extended through 1851 and 1852, included a substantial overland sledging journey. Though they failed to find Franklin's lost ships, they did make significant discoveries in the Canadian Arctic, returning to England with the entirety of the crew safely intact. Bellot was not as lucky on his next Franklin search expedition the following year: he fell through the ice while crossing Wellington Channel and disappeared from sight. His crew mates erected a memorial on Beechey Island, next to three graves from the lost Franklin Expedition.

Arctic Bibliography, 1305; Sabin, 4566.

Stock Code: 224055