Patrick McGahern Books Offers Spectacular Collection of North West Passage and Franklin Search Material

The previously mentioned Sir John Ross made two attempts between 1818 and 1833 to find the North West Passage and, like so many others, failed. He was knighted anyway. He also made one of the many attempts to find the missing Franklin expedition later. Like all early attempts to find Franklin, this was unsuccessful too. Item 388 is Ross' Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin, A Narrative of the Circumstances and Causes which led to the failure of the searching Expeditions Sent by Government and Others for the Rescue of Sir John Franklin, published in 1855. McGahern describes this as possibly being the rarest of all Franklin search books, “so rare most people don't know it exists.” $40,000.

Item 75 is The Last Journals of Captain Fitzjames, R. N. of the Lost Polar Expedition. This work was edited by William Coningham and published in 1858. However, they were written 13 years earlier. Capt. Fitzjames had the misfortune of being a participant in the Franklin expedition, one of the leading officers under Franklin. His last journals were sent home from Greenland in 1845, the last time the expedition was seen other than a spotting at sea by a whaler. From records discovered in the Arctic later, we know that after Franklin died, Fitzjames was placed in command of one of the two ships. After that, his ultimate fate is unknown beyond the fact that, like all others on the mission, he did not survive. This copy of the his journals was Lady Franklin's copy, inscribed “with love” to Henry Sellwood. Sellwood was married to Sir John Franklin's youngest sister. $3,500.

Patrick McGahern Books may be reached at 613-230-2277 or books@mcgahernbooks.ca. Their website is www.mcgahernbooks.ca.