A Voyage of Discovery Made under the Orders of the Admiralty In His Majesty's Ships Isabella and Alexanderfor the Purpose of Exploring Baffin's Bayand Inquiring Into the Probability of a North-West Passage

E-044: John Murray. Very Good. 1819. Hardcover. Leather. 4to. John Murray, London, UK. 1819. Xxxix, 252 pgs, cxliv. With tipped-in errata slip. Illustrated with 3 folding engraved maps (incl. Frontis. ). 27 of 29 plates (including 15 hand-coloured aquatints - 4 folding, 6 uncoloured aquatints - 2 double-page, & 4 engravings - 1 folding) Missing A Voyage through the Ice on pg. 47 and Arctic Highlanders facing page 95., engraved by Havell after drawings by Ross, A. M. Skene, H. P. Hoppner, J. Sackhouse, T. Lewing, D. Havell, J. Bushnan. All plates and maps present. Bound in more recent (20th Century) 1/4 leather and marble paper covered boards with gilt titles and red spine label present to the spine. Boards have light wear present to the extremities of the boards. Previous owner's name present to the FFEP. Foxing is present. Text is free of marks. Binding tight and solid. First Edition of this famous voyage, which marked the resurgence of British interest in the search for the north-west passage, and inaugurated the great arctic explorations and discoveries of the nineteenth century. Among Ross's officers on the voyage were William Edward Parry, James Clark Ross, and Edward Sabine. Setting out in April of 1818, the expedition rediscovered Baffin Bay and its three Sounds, Smith, Jones, and Lancaster, thereby vindicating the reports made by William Baffin in 1616. Sailing some distance into Lancaster Sound, Ross sited a mirage which he believed to be a range of mountains blocking further passage. These he named the Croker Mountains in honour of the first secretary of the Admiralty, J. W. Croker. On his return to England, Ross s report was initially accepted as conclusive and he was promoted to Captain, but his contention that Lancaster Sound was landlocked was disputed by other members of the crew, notably by his second-in-command, William Edward Parry. Parry's view was supported by Sir John Barrow, second secretary of the Admiralty, with whom Ross was to carry on a life-long quarrel as a result. In 1819, the Admiralty appointed Parry to lead a second expedition, which proved Ross to be mistaken. His reputation seriously discredited, Ross was never again given command of an official government expedition. This account of the voyage includes detailed descriptions of the Arctic Highlanders (polar Esquimaux) , and natural phenomena such as red snow, a type of fast-growing arctic algae. E-044; Folio 13" - 23" tall; 252 pages .