[NANSEN, FRIDTJOF (1861-1930)]. Farthest North: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship Fram 1893-96 and of a Fifteen Months' Sleigh Journey by Dr. Nansen and Lieut. Johansen with an Appendix by Otto Sverdrup, Captain of the Fram. About One Hundred and Twenty Full Page and Numerous Text Illustrations and Coloured Plate in Facsimile from Dr. Nansen's own Sketches, Portrait and Maps. London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1899.
Hardcover. Second edition. In two volumes (complete). Cloth-bound. Large octavos (230 x 160mm), pp. [xv], 480; [viii], 456. Original pictorial petrol blue cloth, elaborately lettered and decorated in silver and gilt. One colour plate from Nansen's own sketch, portrait frontispiece of Nansen, "around 120 full page black and white illustrations", plus many illustrations in the text. Fold out map in colour to the rear. Nansen's own account of "a remarkable achievement in Polar exploration" (PMM). He designed a ship, the Fram, to "slip like an eel out of the embraces of the ice" and which he hoped would drift along the ice to the North Pole. His account of the difficult journey by sledge and the return of the Fram to Tromso became a worldwide bestseller. A near fine set, bright and attractive with just a little browning to the endpapers and very slight bumping to spine ends. Without previous ownership markings. A near fine set, bright and attractive with just a little browning to the endpapers.
