Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2007 Issue
Travels and Voyages from Maggs Bros.
1782 map of Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans through Texas to Mexico.
Item 254 is an interesting association copy of Scott's Last Expedition...taken from journals of Robert Scott's journey to the South Pole. It was a trip of great courage, but also great disappointment and tragedy. Scott hoped to be the first to reach the South Pole, and thought he succeeded, only to find on his arrival that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him by a few weeks. Not as well provisioned for the trip as Amundsen, and with unexpectedly bad weather, Scott and his men perished on the return. His journal (and body) was found many months later. This copy of his journal bears the signature of Scott's sister, Grace Monsie, and a note that it was given her by their mother. £3,000 (US $5,893).
Item 203 is the account of Amundsen's less dramatic but more successful expedition. It is a 1912 first English edition of his book, The South Pole. £2,750 (US $5,402).
Item 212 is perhaps another polar first, but probably not. It is My Attainment of the Pole by Frederick Cook. Cook claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1908, which would have made him the first. His account was widely accepted at the time, but subsequent investigation into Cook's claim and statements by his two Inuit companions, plus later dishonest conduct by Cook (he was jailed many years for stock fraud, and an earlier claim to have reached the top of Mt. McKinley appears false) have led most historians to credit Robert Peary's 1909 trip as the first (some question Peary too). This copy, a third printing from 1913, bears Cook's signed inscription. £200 (US $393).
Item 193 is Pierre Pages' Voyage Autour du Monde et Vers les Deux Poles par Terre et par Mer, Pendant les Annees 1767...1775 (voyage around the world between the two poles by land and sea during the years 1767...1775). The French explorer visited many places during his eight years of travels, from the American West to Mexico, the Philippines, the Persian Gulf and more. Pages would later retire to a plantation on Santo Domingo where he was killed in a slave uprising in 1793. Perhaps the most notable part of his book is his description of Texas, which comprises around 60 pages of the text. £3,000 (US $5,891).
Maggs Brothers Rare Booksmay be found online at www.maggs.com, or reached by telephone at 020-7493-7160 (email travel@maggs.com).
