1898 In Nacht und Eis: Die Norwegische Polarexpedition,1893-1896

Description

First Edition, Folding Maps, Folding Plates, Illustrated, Original Binding

In Nacht und Eis: Die Norwegische Polarexpedition 1893-1896 by Fridtjof Nansen with a contribution by Captain Sverdrup together with the Supplement: Wir Framleute von Bernhard Nordahl; Nansen und ich auf 8614' by Lieutenant Hjalmar Johansen. With two hundred and seven illustrations, eight chromolithogaphs and four maps, some of which foldout to rear to first two volumes and with eighty six illustrations and four chromolithographs to supplement volume. In three volumes complete. In German. Nansen's Fram expedition was an 1893-1896 attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east-west current of the Arctic Ocean. In the face of much discouragement from other polar explorers, Nansen took his ship Fram to the New Siberian Islands in the eastern Arctic Ocean, froze her into the pack ice, and waited for the drift to carry her towards the pole. Impatient with the slow speed and erratic character of the drift, after 18 months Nansen and a chosen companion, Hjalmar Johansen, left the ship with a team of dogs and sledges and made for the pole. They did not reach it, but they achieved a record Farthest North latitude of 8613.6'N before a long retreat over ice and water to reach safety in Franz Josef Land. Meanwhile Fram continued to drift westward, finally emerging in the North Atlantic Ocean. Fridtjof Nansen (1861 - 1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 8614' during his North Pole expedition of 1893-96. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.