Complete set of Parry's three voyages for the discovery of the North-West Passage - with the two supplements
Journal of a voyage for the discovery of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific; performed in the years 1819-20, in His Majesty's ships Hecla and Griper ... with an appendix, continuing the scientific and other observations ... Second edition
London: John Murray, publisher to the Admiralty, 1821. 4to, pp. [8], xxix, [1], 310, clxxix (appendix), [1], [2] ads; 6 maps (3 folding, 1 double-page and folding), 14 engraved and aquatint plates; tables throughout; bound with: A Supplement to the Appendix of Captain Parry's Voyage ... containing an Account of the Subjects of Natural History, London: John Murray, 1824, pp. [9], clxxxiv-cccx; 6 engraved composite plates (slightly spotted), tables throughout. "Parry reached Lancaster Sound in July, sailed through and explored and named Barrow Strait, Prince Regent Inlet and Wellington Channel ... He reached 110 degrees west, earning a reward offered by Parliament to the first ship's company that should attain that meridian. He also discovered Melville Island and other of the Parry Islands. After being frozen in for ten months, the ships were released on August 20, 1820 ... on his arrival in England he was commissioned commander and elected to Royal Society ... he charted hundreds of miles of coastline in the Canadian Arctic and collected valuable data on Arctic natural history. Many of the fine plates are from sketches by Frederick William Beechey" (Hill). Arctic Bibliography 13145. Hill 225; Lande 1751; Sabin 58860; TPL 1206. Uniformly bound with: Journal of a second voyage for the discovery of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific; performed in the years 1821-22-23, in His Majesty's ships Fury and Hecla, under the orders of Captain William Edward Parry... London: John Murray, 1824. First edition, 4to, pp. [8], xxx, [2], 571, [1]; 30 engraved plates (including 4 folding views of elevations after J. Bushnan), 9 engraved maps (4 folding) after Bushnan and Lyon, other illustrations in text; bound with: Appendix to Captain Parry's Journal of a Second Voyage... London: John Murray, 1825, pp. [7], 4-432; numerous tables (1 folding), 2 engraved plates. Parry's journal of the second of his three attempts to discover the northwest passage. He sailed through the Hudson Strait into the Fox Basin and reached the Fury and Hecla Strait (named after his ships) between Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula. Besides journal entries, the narrative contains an explanation of technical terms, charts from the meteorological tables, tide tables, and chapters on the Eskimo culture and language. "Throughout the whole of this splendid work, the characteristics of the Esquimaux…absorb the attention of the writer. The last seventy-nine pages are entirely devoted to the subject of the aborigines of the Arctic lands, under the sub-title of 'Some Further Account of the Esquimaux of Melville Peninsula,' fourteen of which are occupied with a vocabulary, in double columns… Twenty-two [copperplates] are illustrative of the 'Domestic Life of the Esquimaux'… The work is in truth a splendid treatise on aboriginal life, rather than a narrative of scientific discoveries" (Field). Arctic Bibliography 13142; Field 1184; Hill 225; Sabin 58864; TPL 1295. Uniformly bound with: Journal of a third voyage for the discovery of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific; performed in the years 1824-25, in His Majesty's ships Fury and Hecla, under the orders of Captain William Edward Parry... London: John Murray, 1826. First edition, 4to, pp. vii, [4], x-xxvii, [1], 186, [2], 151, [1]; 4 engraved maps (1 folding), 7 engraved plates (1 folding). "Parry set out again in May, 1824, but was obliged to abandon the Fury; he returned to England in the Hecla, having accomplished little ... However, Parry did discover and name the Fury and Hecla Strait and he collected additional scientific information about the Arctic region of North America. The appendix contains an important record of the scientific observations and material upon the natural history of the Arctic regions" (Hill). Arctic Bibliography 13144; Hill 1313; Sabin 58867; TPL 1362. Three volumes uniformly bound in 19th-century half red morocco over red cloth-covered boards, gilt-decorated spines in 6 compartments, gilt-lettered direct in 2; ex-James J. Hill Library, minimally marked, with old stickers neatly removed from the spines, library bookplates, discreet perforated stamps in the bottom blank margins of the titles, and a small rubberstamp on the last page of text in each volume; the whole lightly rubbed and scuffed; all else very good and sound. “The immediate achievements of [Parry's three] voyages were the charting of hundreds of miles of coastline in the Canadian Arctic archipelago and the collecting of valuable data on Arctic natural history” (Hill). Item #61076
Price: $6,000.00
