Tales of a Voyager to the Arctic Ocean by [Gillies, Robert Pearse] (1788 - 1829) - 1926

London, 1926. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. 8vo; 20 x12.5 cm (8 x 5 inches) 3 volumes. [iv], 347; [iv], 336; [iv], 350 pp. ------- A scarce and early example of the Arctic novel. Pearse was a close friend of Walter Scott, a periodic contributor to "Blackwood's Magazine", and the first editor of "The Foreign Quarterly Review". --------- R. P. Gillies, born to a wealthy family, wrote poetry and studied under Dugald Stewart at Edinburgh University before being admitted to the bar in 1813. He befriended Walter Scott and James Hogg, corresponded with Wordsworth, and contributed translations of German literature to Blackwood's Magazine (he is the "Kempferhausen" of the Noctes Ambrosianae). Gillies was constantly in debt and relied on his facility as a translator to support his family, moving first to London and later to Boulogne for seven years to escape his creditors. His Memoirs give a detailed portrait of literary affairs in Scotland during the romantic era. --- Later green half-morocco and marbled boards, spines lettered in gilt, top edges gilt. Bindings tight and square. Text clean, light even toning. Moderate handling wear. Two bookplates: one armorial Northwick; the other a personalized modern example. A highly desired early novel of Arctic exploration, rarely encountered and scare in this condition. ---- REF: SPCL: 57; Buckingham, 1903, p61; OCoLC: 557723041 .