[Incredible album of photographs documenting Peary's final expedition to the Arctic] by PEARY ARCTIC EXPEDITION - G. Frederick NORTON (1876-1917) - 1909

[Northern Greenland], 1909. Oblong small folio. (11 x 15 1/4 inches). 238 silver print photographs (comprising 71 panoramic images measuring 3 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches, 147 measuring 3 3/4 x 4 7/8 inches and 20 measuring 3 x 3 7/8 inches). Mounted recto and verso on grey card mounts within the album. Some images captioned in ink on the mount. A few cards detached, some fading to the images. Contemporary leather, missing part of one post, leather worn. Housed in a morocco backed box. Provenance: G. Frederick Norton An important photographic record of Peary's Arctic expedition. In 1908, G. Frederick Norton accompanied Robert Peary on the start of his final Arctic expedition. An acclaimed adventurer and hunter, Norton was additionally an amateur photographer and here documents Peary's journey north, as well as camp life, landscape and natives of Greenland. George Frederick Norton (1876-1917), born in Kentucky, attended the Lawrenceville School and served as a partner at the brokerage Ex Norton & Co. However, his life's passion was travel, adventure and big game. Norton made numerous trips to the west and Alaska on private hunting expeditions, and collected and donated specimens (with a particular emphasis on bear skulls) to the American Museum of Natural History the Smithsonian and other institutions. In 1901, he journeyed around the world and in 1908 he helped finance the final Peary expedition to the North Pole, accompanying him aboard the ship Erik as far north as Etah, Greenland. The images include panoramic landscapes taken from aboard the ship, showing icebergs and the coast of Greenland. The smaller format images include portraits and candid shots of Peary, Matthew Henson, Captain Bartlett, Professor Marvin and other crew members at work and repose aboard the ships Erik and Roosevelt, as well as numerous images of native Inuit aboard ship and on land. Furthermore, images include landscapes and camp life at the whaling station at Hawk's Harbor, Holseteinborg, the Cape York settlement, Etah and elsewhere en route. Among the Peary-related photos, are a series of images showing his preparations to leave the ship at Etah. An extraordinary album of vernacular photographs in the Arctic on a noted expedition.