Search Results: EXPLORATIONS from Back Lane Books (Member of IOBA)

An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet Containing a Narrative of a Journey Through Bootan and Part of Tibet, Turner, Capt. Samuel. Sub-title: To which are added, views taken on the spot by Lieutenant Samuel Davis and observations botanical, mineralogical, and medicinal by Mr. Robert Saunders. Introduction by Hugh Richardson. Published by Manjusri Publishing House, New Delhi, 1971. Reprint of 1800 Edition. Limited Edition of 1000 copies. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall; xxviii, 473pp. with 13 plates, Appendix. Blue pebbled leather boards with gilt titles, top edge blue, blue endpapers. Ordre des Architects du Quebec stamp to pastedown and contents are otherwise fine without markings, tears or folds. Blue top outer edge has some bleeding not affecting pages; outer edge has very light dusting. Boards are tight and square without rubbing.
In 1786, Samuel Turner (1759 1802), an army officer in the East India Company, was appointed leader of a mission to encourage open trade routes in… Read More

Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic, by Niven, Jennifer, Hyperion, New York, 2003. Stated First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall., 431 pp with maps and black and white plates. Maroon cloth boards with gilt spine titles; rough cut edges. Volume is in unread, pristine condition; dust jacket is price clipped with very slight top edge wear.

In 1921, four men and one woman ventured deep into the Arctic. Two years later, only one returned. When 23-year-old Inuit Ada Blackjack signed on as a seamstress for a top-secret Arctic expedition, her goal was simple: earn money and find a husband. But her terrifying experiences--both in the wild and back in civilization--comprise one of the most amazing untold adventures of the 20th century. Based on a wealth of unpublished materials, including Ada's never-before-seen diaries.

Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island, Heyerdahl, Thor. Published by Rand McNally & Company, Chicago, 1958. First Printing July 1958, Book of the Month. 8vo up to 9½" tall., 384pp, 62 color photos; maps. Tan cloth boards with blind-stamped illustration front; gilt spine labels on red panel, mapped endpapers in tri-colour. Light dusting to outer edges; lightly shaken and otherwise fine without markings, tears or folds. Unclipped dustjacket has ruffling and rubbing to edges.

Alaska, 1899, Copper River Exploring Expedition, Abercrombie, Captain W. R., Washington, Government Printing Office, 1900. Senate Document No 306 56th Congress 1st Session. First Edition. 169 pages followed by 168 full halftone photo plates and attached folding map. Half leather over black boards, banded spine with gilt titles; all edges speckled light red; marbled green endpapers with reinforced red hinges. Boards have rubbing to leather with a crack to upper joint line. Map is clean, crisp and white with a small repairable tear to bottom panel outside left margin. Binding tight; contents in pristine condition and appear unread.
In 1989, Capt. W. R. Abercrombie, Second United States Infantry was commanded to lead an expedition to "open up a military road to Copper Center, and from the last-named point by the most direct and practicable route to Eagle City. …. This expedition will cover as much territory as possible, and will collect and incorporate in the reports all information that may lie… Read More

Arabia Felix, The Danish Expedition of 1761 - 1767, Hansen, Thorkild. Translated by James and Kathleen McFarlane. Published by Harper and Row, New York, 1962. First Edition. 8vo up to 9½" tall., 381pp., index, illustrated with maps and black and white plates. Turquoise cloth boards with gilt titles. Bookplate to pastedown, name to versus of contents page, light outer edge toning and otherwise contents in fine condition; dustjacket has tiny chips and tears.A true story of a scientific expedition gone disastrously awry. On a winter morning in 1761 six men leave Copenhagen by sea—a botanist, a philologist, an astronomer, a doctor, an artist, and their manservant—an ill-assorted band of men who dislike and distrust one another from the start. These are the members of the Danish expedition to Arabia Felix, as Yemen was then known, the first organized foray into a corner of the world unknown to Europeans. The expedition made its way to Turkey and Egypt, by which time its members were already actively… Read More

The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914, Bell, Gertrude; Rosemary O'Brien, editor. Published by Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, 2000. First Edition. 8vo up to 9½" tall. 258pp. Illustrated with Bell's own black and white photographs and map of her journey through the Syrian Desert. Blue cloth boards with gilt spine titles, red endpapers. Volume is in fine condition without markings, tears or folds; unclipped dustjacket has the lightest of shelf wear and is otherwise fine.'The Englishwoman Gertrude Bell lived an extraordinary life. Her adventures are the stuff of novels: she rode with bandits; braved desert shamals; was captured by Bedouins; and sojourned in a harem. Called the most powerful woman in the British Empire, she counseled kings and prime ministers. Bell's colleagues included Lloyd George and Winston Churchill and numbered among her closest friends were T.E. Lawrence, St. John Philby, and Arabian sheiks…. This particular journey of Gertrude Bell by itself earned her professional recognition… Read More

Around the World in a Dugout Canoe: The Untold Story of Captain John Voss and the Tilikum, MacFarlane, John; Salmon, Lynn J. Published by Harbour Publishing, Pender Harbour, British Columbia, 2020. First Edition. 268pp., illustrated. In fine, unread condition and housed in a fine, unclipped jacket.
Anticipating fame and wealth, Captain John Voss set out from Victoria, BC, in 1901, seeking to claim the world record for the smallest vessel ever to circumnavigate the globe. For the journey, he procured an authentic dugout cedar canoe from an Indigenous village on the east coast of Vancouver Island. For three years Voss and the Tilikum, aided by a rotating cast of characters, visited Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil and finally England.
In this groundbreaking work, marine historians John MacFarlane and Lynn Salmon sift fact from fiction, Around the World in a Dugout Canoe tells the real story of a little-understood character and his cedar canoe. It is an enduring story of courage, adventure,… Read More

Borneo and the Indian Archipelago with Drawings of Costumes and Scenery, By Frank S. Marryat, late midshipman from H.M.S. Samarang, surveying vessel. Published by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, Paternoster-Row, London, 1848. First Edition. 4to up to 12" tall; Pp. (4), [v]-viii,[1]-232, colour chromolithograph frontispiece, colour-illustrated engraved title page, 20 leaves of chromolithograph plates, 37 woodcuts to text. Bound in burgundy half leather with marble paper over boards; banded spine with gilt titles; endpapers and all edges marbled. Contents are in near fine condition with an occasional light thumb mark and very light toning; Cornell University label to pastedown. Boards have surface rubbing to marbled paper, front hinge and joint professionally repaired; rubbing to corners and edges. A collection of drawings made on the last surveying cruise of the H.M.S. Samarang in 1843-46, under the command of Captain Belcher, with an engaging narrative description of people and places such as… Read More

Canada and the Pacific, Charles Horetzky, Dawson Brothers Publishers, Montreal, 1874. First Edition. Full title: Canada on the Pacific: Being an Account of a Journey from Edmonton to the Pacific by the Peace River Valley, And of a Winter Voyage along the Western Coast of the Dominion; with Remarks on the Physical Features of the Pacific Railway Route and Notices of the Indian Tribes of British Columbia. 12mo up to 7½" tall. x, 244 pp. with fold-out map, and fold-out chart. Paneled rust brown cloth boards with gilt spine titles; coated dark brown endpapers. 2 names to free endpaper one of which contemporaneous: "T.D. Ledyard 1874 Toronto". Contents are otherwise unmarked and remain bright and clean. There is a torn corner pages 21 and 22 affecting 5 lines of text; closed tear to seam line on one upper map panel. Boards have moderate wear; front spine is cracked with inner hinge and contents remaining tight.Charles Horetzky was a Canadian surveyor and photographer and member of the Canadian Pacific… Read More

Captain Cook, Alistair MacLean. Published by Doubleday & Company, 1972. First American Edition. 8vo up to 9½" tall.,192pp. with colour frontispiece, colour and black and white photographs, maps, illustrations, epilogue, index. Green cloth boards with mapped endpapers. Illustration on dustjacket is by artist John Webber who accompanied Cook on his final voyage. Very light fading and small bump to lower edge of front board and otherwise both volume and unclipped dustjacket are in fine condition without marks, folds etc. James Cook was the greatest combination of seaman, explorer, navigator, and cartographer that the world had ever known.Alistair MacLean presents a graphic and lively account of this great explorer, his three amazing voyages and the adventures that befell him, his crews, and his ships in lands that until he sailed were in many cases unknown. Cook's life was a resounding success and the story of it is a thrilling exemplification of his own description of himself as a man 'who had… Read More

Everest 1933, Ruttledge, Hugh. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1934. First Edition. Gift card from The Lord Provost of Edinburgh dated 1934 pasted to free endpaper. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall; xvi, 390pp. 58 sepia photographic plates plus frontispiece, 3 diagrams in text and 4 maps (3 folding); chronology of the expedition; index. Black cloth boards with gilt spine titles. Binding is tight and contents are clean, without tears or folds. All maps are in fine condition. Foxing to endpapers, preliminaries, and frontispiece tissue guard; sporadic light foxing throughout. Fraying to top of spine and top back strip partially unglued, light outer edge dusting and foxing.
The 1933 expedition led by Hugh Ruttledge, was the first attempt since the 1924 expedition of which Mallory and Irvine had been killed. In the 1933 expedition, three climbers, Wager, Wyn Harris and later Smythe, reached 8580 metres. On this expedition an ice axe was found which belonged to Irvine.
The Fight for Everest: 1924,… Read More

The Expiring Continent: A Narrative of Travel In Senegambia, With Observations On Native Character, The Present Condition And Future Prospects of Africa And Colonisation by Mitchinson, Alexander, William. Published by London: Wm. H. Allen And Co., 1881. First Edition. 8vo up to 9½" tall. pp. viii, 469. Tipped in folding map of Senegambia backed on linen and 16 full page black and white illustrations including frontis. Brown boards with stylized titles and elaborate illustrations in black and gilt to front and spine. Brown endpapers. Label on pastedown indicating this volume donated to Saint Georges Library, by Wm. H. Allen Eng. October 23rd, 1882. Contents in near fine condition with Llibrary's rules to free endpaper; 'donated by publishers' in brown script to versus. Binding is tight with a light spine slant. Boards have rubbing to edges and corners with fraying and small splits to spine edges. A narrative of the author's travels up the River Senegal from St. Louis and up the Gambia from… Read More

The Fight for Everest: 1924, Lieutenant-Colonel E.F. Norton, And Other Members of the Expedition. Published by Edward Arnold & Co., London, 1925. First Edition. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall; 372pp. with 32 plates from photographs, 8 of them in color, plus a folding map and folding panorama map. Dark green cloth boards with gilt titles front and spine. Black inked name and date of 1926 to free endpaper and light pencil notes to rear free endpaper. Contents are otherwise in very nice condition without tears, markings or folds. All maps and plates are accounted for and in fine condition. Front board has scratching near foredge and rubbing to edges; binding is secure and boards are square. A very collectible copy.
The story of the third expedition to Everest by the surviving members of the team. Includes an account by Noel Odell of the disappearance of George Leigh Mallory and Andrew Irvine on the Northeast Ridge. Also contains the letters George Mallory sent to his wife from the expedition, as well as… Read More

God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery, Hunter, Douglas. Published by Doubleday Canada, 2007. First Edition. 8vo up to 9½" tall., 416pp. with index. Black boards with silver spine titles. In fine, unread condition; unclipped jacket has the lightest of shelf scuffing and is otherwise fine. "A searing historical work about death, deceit and dishonour, and the rivalry between Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson, two of the greatest explorers of the 17th century.

Inventions Of The Middle Ages, Chiara Frugoni. Published by The Folio Society, 2008. Foreword written by Adam Hart-Davis. Translated by William McCuaig. 8vo up to 9½" tall., xii, [2], 186pp., with black and white and colour plates, index, bibliographical references. Quarter black cloth over illustrated boards, gilt spine titles. Housed in red slipcase. Both volume and slipcase are in fine, as new condition.

Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on the World's Greatest Scientific Expedition, Bown, Stephen R. Published by Da Capo Press, 2017. First Edition. Quarter black over blue boards. 326pp. with illustrations, maps, bibliography, index. In fine, unread condition and housed in a fine jacket.
The immense 18th-century scientific journey, variously known as the Second Kamchatka Expedition or the Great Northern Expedition, from St. Petersburg across Siberia to the coast of North America, involved over 3,000 people and cost Peter the Great over one-sixth of his empire's annual revenue. Until now recorded only in academic works, this 10-year venture, led by the legendary Danish captain Vitus Bering and including scientists, artists, mariners, soldiers, and laborers, discovered Alaska, opened the Pacific fur trade, and led to fame, shipwreck, and "one of the most tragic and ghastly trials of suffering in the annals of maritime and arctic history."

Kabloona, Gontran De Poncins. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1980. Introduction by Lewis Galantière, illustrated by the author. Card covers. 8vo up to 9½" tall. 322 pages with black and white illustrations and photos; mapped end-papers. In fine, unread condition. A classic of adventure, travel, anthropology, and spiritual awakening,. De Poncins was a French nobleman who spent fifteen months in 1938 and 1939 living among the Inuit people of the Arctic.

The Knights of the Order, Ernie Bradford. Published by Dorset Press, New York, 1991. 8vo up to 9½" tall., 245pp., maps, appendices, bibliography and index. In fine condition; dustjacket has very light shelf wear.
An authoritative history of the Knights of St. John, from Jerusalem to Malta, told by the bestselling author of The Great Siege. Known by many names through their centuries-long career, The Knights Hospitaller of Saint John dedicated themselves to defending the poor and sick. First formed in Jerusalem during the Crusades of the eleventh century, the Order of Saint John grew in wealth and power rivaled only by the Knights Templar. They survived exile from the Holy Land, settling first in Rhodes and then in Malta, which they famously defended against the Ottoman Empire's epic invasion of 1565. Even after losing Malta to Napoleon Bonaparte two centuries later, the Order of Saint John continued its mission.

Maconochie's Gentlemen: The Story of Norfolk Island and the Roots of Modern Prison Reform, Morris, Norval. Published by Oxford University Press, 2003. Card covers. 213pp. Contents In fine, unread condition; light wear to card covers. In 1840, Alexander Maconochie, a privileged retired naval captain, became at his own request superintendent of two thousand twice-convicted prisoners on Norfolk Island, a thousand miles off the coast of Australia. In four years, Maconochie transformed what was one of the most brutal convict settlements in history into a controlled, stable, and productive environment that achieved such success that upon release his prisoners came to be called "Maconochie's Gentlemen".

The Map That Changed the World, Winchester, Simon. Published by , Harper Collins, New York, 2001. First Edition, First printing. 8vo up to 9½" tall., 329 pp., bibliography, glossary, photographs and illustrations. Beige boards with gilt spine titles. This first issue dustjacket becomes a fold-out of am 1815 facsimile map titled Delineations of the Strata of England and Wales, with part of Scotland exhibiting the collieries and mines. Both volume and unclipped dustjacket are in fine condition without marks, tears and folds.
This is the story of William Smith, the orphaned son of an English country blacksmith, who became obsessed with creating the world's first geological map and ultimately became the father of modern geology.