[Incredible photographic album of photographs documenting Harry Whitney's first and second expeditions to Arctic Greenland] by WHITNEY, Harry (1873-1936) - 1910

[Northern Greenland], 1910. Oblong small folio. (11 x 14 inches). 259 silver gelatin prints, most Whitney's photographer's credit in the image, mounted recto only on black paper within the album, images measuring approx, 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches. Contemporary leather, upper cover lettered in gilt. Housed in a black morocco backed box. Provenance: G. Frederick Norton An important photographic record of high Arctic exploration. An important photograph album consisting of 259 original gelatin silver prints by noted American sportsman, explorer, and author Harry Whitney, taken during Peary's 1908-1909 Arctic Expedition, as well as Whitney's second expedition of 1910. Harry Whitney (1873-1936) was a wealthy American sportsman, a descendant of the Eli Whitney family of New Haven, Connecticut (not to be confused with his contemporary, sportsman and donor of Yale's gymnasium Harry Payne Whitney). Whitney first travelled to the far northern Arctic for sport in 1908-09, on the ship carrying Robert Peary's expedition to the North Pole in the spring of 1908. While Peary and his rival Frederick Cook assaulted the Pole, Whitney hunted musk ox, polar bears, walrus, and other arctic game, and wintered over with the Inuit. In the spring of 1909 he encountered Frederick Cook, who claimed to have reached the Pole, and left some luggage in Whitney's care as he raced south to report his triumph. When Peary arrived later in the summer, he offered Whitney a ride home, but refused to bring Cook's luggage. Whitney thus became embroiled in the controversy over who achieved the Pole first, since Cook claimed his proofs were in the baggage. The following year, Whitney returned to Greenland aboard the steamer Beothic for a summer of hunting in the far north. This photo album documents both Whitney's 1909 wintering (45 images), as well as his return to far northern Greenland the next year (214 images). The album is a treasure trove of images of the indigenous Inuit of northern Greenland, with numerous photos of Inuit men, women, and children at work and play, most looking directly into the camera lens. There are also many landscape views, and some seascapes focusing on distant icebergs and glaciers. Other images show Inuit shelters, the steamship "Beothic," and other assorted snapshots of Inuit life. Wildlife also appear in a number of the photographs, including explicit photos of successful hunts or captures, with several examples showing recently-shot or stunned polar bears and walruses being hauled onto a boat, as well as herds of musk oxen. This album with provenance to George Frederick Norton (1876-1917). Born in Kentucky, he 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. Norton helped finance the final Peary expedition to the North Pole, accompanying him and Whitney aboard the ship Erik as far north as Etah, Greenland. The album was evidently subsequently presented to Norton by Whitney, and has descended in Norton's family. The album stands as an affecting reminder of the harsh realities of polar exploration, big-game hunting, and the lives of indigenous Greenlanders. It is an important record of some of the earliest exploration to reach such High Arctic latitudes.