PEARY, Robert E.

Northward over the 'great ice'. A narrative of life and work along the shores and upon the interior ice-cap of northern Greenland in the years 1886 and 1891–1897. With a description of the little tribe of Smith-Sound Eskimos, the most northerly human beings in the world, and an account of the discovery and bringing home of the Saviksue, or Great Cape-York meteorites.

London, Methuen & Co., 1898. 2 vols, small 4to (225 x 165 mm), pp. [iv], [xv]–lxxx, 521. [1, blank]; xiv, 625, [1, blank], with a portrait frontispiece, two folding plates and numerous illustrations in the text; original blue cloth; top edge gilt; slightly worn and soiled. First edition. Northward over the ‘great ice’ is the record of Peary’s Arctic expeditions up to 1897, whose achievements included the determination of the northernmost extension of the ice cap and the insularity of Greenland, together with the gathering of a mass of scientific and ethnographic data. ‘As a result of his experiences Peary had come to the conclusion that the only practicable means for reaching the North Pole consisted in pushing a ship as far northward as possible to a winter harbor on the Greenland coast, and then early in spring traveling with dogs and sledges due north until the Pole was attained’ (DAB). Peary’s ventures are also remarkable among exploring voyages for the active involvement of their leader’s wife, who was the first white woman to winter with an Arctic expedition and gave birth to a girl farther north than any other white child had been born before.‘Born in 1856, into a family of New England merchants, Robert Edwin Peary was undoubtedly the most driven, possibly the most successful, and probably the most unpleasant man in the annals of polar exploration’ (Fleming, Ninety degrees north p. 284). His method of exploration advocated the use of a small team of explorers adopting as far as possible the survival skills of the native Eskimos. ‘When he went travelling he carried no tent but built igloos instead; where the English wore cotton and wool, and the Scandinavians dressed in Iceland sweaters and windcheaters, Peary wore Eskimo furs; where others struggled with sleeping bags, Peary slept Eskimo-style in the clothes he wore. In return, Peary trained the Eskimos in what he proudly called the “Peary System” of exploration, which consisted of three separate parties: the first to prepare the ground and build shelters at designated resting places; the second to haul caches of food in their wake; and the third, the polar group, which would follow behind, carrying a minimum of supplies so that they would be fresh for the big push . . . . A similar system of tripartite sledge travelling had been employed by the British during the Franklin rescue missions forty years before. But if Peary could claim credit for none of the individual details he was the first to bring them together, combining European and Eskimo techniques to produce the most efficient method of travelling long distances in the Arctic’ (Fleming, Ninety degrees north p. 295).Arctic bibliography 13231 (New York edition).

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