Beschreibung:

(Admiral Sir John) Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-West Passage, and of a Residence in the Arctic Regions, 2 vol. (including Appendix), first edition, 51 engraved or lithographed charts, maps and plates, including one folding chart partly hand-coloured, 3 mezzotints and 21 hand-coloured, errata, list of subscribers, hand-coloured plates with tissue guards, some foxing to plain plates and occasional ff., some light offsetting, uniformly bound in modern half calf, spines with gilt rules and nautical motifs within raised bands, an attractive set, [Abbey Travel II: 636; Arctic Bibliography 14866; Hill I: 261; Sabin 73381], 4to, 1835. *** A handsome set of the famous recounting of the discovery of the magnetic North Pole, a "wonderfully interesting narrative of human endurance, triumphing over the most awful peril and suffering. The sumptuous printing which makes every page a picture has even its luxury enhanced by the splendid steel engravings and lithographs. The former are so excellent as to be worthy of preservation as gems of art." (Field, An Essay towards an Indian Bibliography, 1321). Scarce with the appendix, which includes accounts of the Eskimos and their language. Provenance: Quaker merchant banker William Aldam with ownership signature on titles and completed subscription form loosely inserted; Italian telecoms entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia and his wife Monica with their bookplate on front pastedowns.