Arctic Voyage to Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound First Edition - Robert Anstruther Goodsir - Bauman Rare Books

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Arctic Voyage to Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound

Robert Anstruther GOODSIR

Item#: 107111 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Arctic Voyage to Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound

Arctic Voyage to Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound

"HAS ANYTHING BEEN HEARD OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN?": SCARCE 1850 FIRST EDITION OF GOODSIR'S EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF HIS BROTHER AND THE LOST FRANKLIN EXPEDITION

GOODSIR, Robert Anstruther. Arctic Voyage to Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound, in Search of Friends with Sir John Franklin. London: John Van Voorst, 1850. Octavo, original blue-green cloth rebacked with original spine laid down.

Scarce first edition of Goodsir's narrative of an eight-month expedition undertaken in 1849 in search of the author's brother Harry, surgeon on the missing 1845 Franklin expedition, with tinted lithograph frontispiece and folding map with the route of the expedition outlined in red.

Goodsir accompanied whaling Captain William Penney onboard the Advice in searching Lancaster Sound for the missing Franklin expedition. In doing so, he provides a good description of the region, ice conditions, birds observed, interactions with Eskimos, hunting polar bears, whaling processes, etc. Goodsir would also accompany Penney on his second search attempt aboard the Lady Franklin. With publisher's eight-page catalogue bound in at rear. Arctic Bibliography 5919. Sabin 27931. Inkstamp of the American Geographical Society on last leaf of text. Bookplate.

Short split to frontispiece along inner hinge, not affecting image. Wear to lower corners, minor color restoration to upper corners. A very good copy in original cloth of this scarce title.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
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Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
Collation Process by which the contents of a book are inspected for completeness, checking against internal evidence, the table of contents and/or plate list, and reference works. Also a shorthand bibliographical description of a book’s composition by its leaves and signatures, rather than its pages. A-C, for example, would indicate a quarto volume composed of three signatures or gatherings of eight pages each for a total of 24 pages.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
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Half Title Leaf preceding the title page that bears the book’s title, originally used to identify the unbound text block. The book’s binder would often remove and discard the half title at the time of binding. Remaining half-titles are therefore of interest to collectors.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
Wormhole Tiny pinhole-sized trails left by bookworms as they eat through a text block. Much more common in older books printed on handmade papers with a high rag content than in books printed on manufactured papers made from wood pulp with a higher acidic content.
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