Fridtjof Nansen's "Farthest North"; Being the record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship Fram 1893 and of a fifteen months' sleigh journey by Dr. Nansen and Lieut. Johansen with and appendix by Otto Sverdrup Captain of the Fram [Half Title - the Norwegian Polar Expedition 1893-1896]

London: George Newnes, Ltd, 1898. Second UK Edition. Very Good. Two Volumes [9.25x6.75in], Vol. I - xv, 480 pp., frontispiece of Nansen, 60 plates (one colored illustration and black and white images), 51 illustrations in text, large color fold out map at rear, Vol. II - viii, 456 pp., frontispiece illustration of Sailing Kayaks, 51 plates of images, 39 illustrations in text, index; Dark blue cloth boards with bevels edges, gilt lettering on front and spine, silver and gilt illustrations on front and spine, brown speckling to text edges; Minor shelf wear to covers, edges and corners, with corners bumped and frayed, bottom edge rubbed, minor rubbing to joints and top and bottom of spines and to gilt, small dents to top front edge of Vol. I, slight age toning along text edges and to map, prior owner ink gift inscription of front end paper from Torvald Klanveness to T. W. Anderson, 1961, glue stains at hinges on end papers, archival repair to closed tear and 2 inch crease split in map. [Arctic Bibliography 11983 (1897, New York), Howgego Polar N3, PMM 384 (Norwegian)]. Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He explore Greenland and the North Polar regions of Siberia and North America. Nansen was the "Dean" of polar travel and many of the polar explorers, such as Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton and others came to him for counsel and support. He was active in the Norwegian independence movement from Sweden, representing the new nation as an ambassador in London and instrumental in the League of Nations refugee programs and arctic research.

From the Arctic Bibliography, this is the "Narrative of the First Fram Expedition, 1893-1896, led by Nansen, with the object of investigating the Polar basin north of Eurasia by drifting in the ice with the currents northwest from the New Siberian Islands across or near the Pole." There are "descriptions of the voyage in the Fram from Northern Norway across the Kara Sea and then the drift in the polar sea. There is an account of the sledge journey of Nansen and Johansen to the pole and achieving the farthest North at 86 14' North before returning to the ship, and wintering on Franz Josef's Land with Fredrick Jackson.

This book is one of the few exploration books referenced in "Printing and the Mind of Man", a descriptive catalogue illustrating the impact of print on the evolution of western civilization during five centuries. This was "... Nansen's own account of a remarkable achievement in polar exploration, every detail of which was worked our by Nansen himself and went absolutely according to plan." Nansen developed a theory of "regular ice-drift from Alaska to Greenland.", a revolutionary theory. This is a second London printing of Farthest North in the UK, published by Newnes (1897 first printing by Archibald Constable). The trade binding is highly illustrated and distinctive for the period.

The inscription is possibly from Torvald Klanveness (1913-1996), founder of a major Norwegian shipping company in Oslo, Norway. T. W. Anderson, could be Theodore Wilbur Anderson (1918-2016), a statistical scientist specializing in analysis of multivariate data, who was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and letters, and lecturing in Europe in the 1960's. Unfortunately, there is no record of a direct connection between the two men.