John Ross | A voyage of discovery... exploring Baffin's Bay [with:] An explanation of Captain Sabine's remarks. 1819

John Ross

Two works bound in one volume, comprising: 

A voyage of discovery, made under the orders of the Admiralty, in His Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander, for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and inquiring into the probability of a north-west passage.

London: John Murray, 1819

FIRST EDITION, 4to, paper watermarked 1818, 25 aquatint plates (some folding, some hand-coloured), 7 maps and meteorological charts (some folding), illustrations, errata slip bound at end

An explanation of Captain Sabine's remarks on the late voyage of discovery to Baffin's Bay.

London: John Murray, 1819

FIRST EDITION, 8vo (but with margins extended to 4to)

Together 2 works bound in one volume, 4to (248 x 199mm.), twentieth-century half calf by Morrell, marbled boards, spine in compartments gilt, occasional light foxing or offsetting

ROSS'S ACCOUNT HIS VOYAGE IN SEARCH OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE, BOUND WITH ROSS'S RARE PAMPHLET DEFENDING HIS ACCOUNT OF THE EXPEDITION.

Captain Ross commanded one of the four ships sent by the Admiralty in the summer of 1818 to explore the possibility of a north-west passage through Davis Strait; two of the ships explored Baffin Bay and two the Greenland Sea. "Ross's nephew James Clark Ross, in whose career he took a special interest, sailed with him. It was the renewal of the search which had been laid on one side during the war, and resulted in the rediscovery of Baffin Bay, the identification of several points named in Baffin's map, and proof that Buss and James islands did not exist. Ironically, however, when Ross attempted to proceed westward through Lancaster Sound, he was deceived by a mirage and described the passage as barred by a range of mountains, which he named the Croker mountains. He then returned to England, thereby losing his only possibility of penetrating the north-west passage. His report was, in the first instance, accepted as conclusive, and he was promoted to post rank on 7 December 1818” (ODNB). Ross's account includes descriptions of the landscape, the Inuit residents, the geology, the flora and fauna as well as detailed meteorological recordings and notes on the magnetic readings of the compass. Ross's account was cast into doubt by others including Edward Sabine, the astronomer on the expedition, which resulted in Ross's pamphlet defending his description of the expedition.

LITERATURE:

Abbey Travel 634 (first work); Bibliographia Groenlandica 111 & 118; Hill (2004) 1488 & 1511; Sabin 73376 & 74716

PROVENANCE:

Bannerman, signature at head of title-page