King, Richard

FIRST EDITION, 2 volumes, 12mo (190 x 112mm.), (vol.1) xvi, [ii], 312pp.; (vol.2) viii, 322pp., 3 engraved plates, lithographed map, contemporary dark green diced calf, binding rebacked retaining the original double orange labels

Sabin 37831; Staton & Tremaine 1899

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
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PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed "To R.J. Thompson Esq with the Author's respects".

“[King] was appointed surgeon and naturalist to the expedition led by George Back to look for John Ross, who had been gone four years on a search for the north-west passage. Although only second in command, King had a much more arduous share of the work than Back and was largely responsible for the success of the expedition. Back's Narrative… [see Exploration and Discovery, Part 1, lot 54] contains meteorological and botanical appendices by King who also wrote his own Narrative. King's is in many respects the better book, since he showed a far deeper understanding of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic and did not indulge in dramatic exaggeration. His narrative made clear that, had the journey been better organized, more could have been accomplished" (ODNB).