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IVES, Edward. A Voyage from England to India, in the Year MDCCLIV.London : 1773
First edition of this important narrative, including descriptions of Basra, Baghdad, Mosul, Aleppo, and Cyprus. His account of Kuwait is notable for its attention to overland merchant caravan traffic, often ignored by writers who focused on the country's ports. Ives was also the first Western author to describe Ctesiphon in detail.
In 1753...Learn More
FAIK BEY. Seyahatname-i Bahr-i MuhitIstanbul : 1285 AH / 1868 CE
First edition of this Ottoman travelogue about the first Turkish voyage to America - a detailed eyewitness account by one of the officers aboard the imperial corvettes Bursa and Izmir. The two ships left Gallipoli in 1865, aiming to reach the Arabian Gulf via the Cape of Good Hope. Near the Cabo Verde Islands, they were accidentally blown of...Learn More
NARES, George Strong. Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar SeaLondon : 1878
First edition, complete with the well-preserved mounted photographs that make this a highly collectible piece of Arctic literature. Nares's journey to the Arctic is notable for wintering at Floeberg Beach - "the highest winter quarters ever established by an expedition and the farthest north a ship had ever penetrated" (Howgego).
While in...Learn More
POLO, Marco. Libro de las cosas maravillosas que vido en las partes orientales:Logroño : 1529
Third edition in Spanish, the earliest feasibly obtainable in that language. Of the various early versions of Marco Polo, this is of exceptional importance for the translator Rodrigo Santaella's suggestion in the introduction that the regions visited by Polo in Asia were geographically distinct from the lands newly discovered by Columbus....Learn More
HAKLUYT, Richard. The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English nation,London : 1589
First edition of Hakluyt's famous collection of exploration and travel narratives, the first English anthology of voyages and a showcase for the feats of English adventurers in the Elizabethan age. This copy is complete with the folding world map, based on Ortelius, and the six unpaginated leaves marking the first record in print of Sir Francis...Learn More
HALLIBURTON, Richard. First two bulletins of the Halliburton Trans-Pacific Chinese Junk Expedition.Shanghai : 1939
The first two newsletters, each signed by the famous explorer on the last page, of his ill-fated final expedition, during which he planned to sail a junk, the Sea Dragon, from Hong Kong to the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. These examples are complete with their mailing envelopes and the two photographic prints of the Sea...Learn More
BACK, George. Narrative of an Expedition in H.M.S. Terror, Undertaken with a View to Geographical Discovery on the Arctic Shores, in the Years 1836-7.London : 1838
First edition of Back's account of his fifth and final Arctic expedition and the second under his own command. The plates, which include many atmospheric illustrations of HMS Terror in the ice, are after paintings and drawings by William Smyth (1799-1877), who was first lieutenant on the voyage.
Back's narrative "captures much of the drama...Learn More
AJALA, Olabisi. An African Abroad.London : 1963
First edition of the author's only published book. Ajala used his trip around the world, beginning in London in 1957, as the basis for this, his autobiographical travelogue.
He resolved to try and see as many world leaders and celebrities as possible, travelling to 87 countries on his Vespa scooter, meeting with, amongst others, Kruschev,...Learn More
ROSS, Sir John. Explanation and Answer to Mr. John Braithwaite's Supplement to Captain Sir John Ross's Narrative of a Second Voyage of a North-West Passage.London : [1835]
First edition, from the travel library of Franklin Brooke-Hitching, with his pencilled initials at the head of the first page. This spirited pamphlet was issued as part of Sir John Ross's very public spat with John Braithwaite over the performance of the boilers on the Arctic exploration ship Victory.
In 1829, Ross (1777-1856) took command...Learn More
PIGAFETTA, Antonio, & Maximilianus Transylvanus. Il Viaggio fatto da gli spagnivoli a torno a'l mondo.[Venice : 1536
First Italian edition of Pigafetta's first-hand account, the second edition overall, here issued together with an early printing of Maximilianus Transylvanus's report based on interviews with the survivors. This volume offers the first combined appearance of the two most authoritative accounts of Magellan's circumnavigation, one by an eyewitness...Learn More
CHERRY-GARRARD, Apsley. The Worst Journey in The World: Antarctic 1910-1913.London : 1922
First edition of this account of the Terra Nova Expedition. Cherry-Garrard was uniquely qualified to tell the full story of the main party. "He was a member of the main party for the expedition's entire duration, had access to unpublished sources, and was the only member of the Winter Journey to survive the expedition"...Learn More
SHACKLETON, Ernest H. South.London : 1919
First edition. "The failure of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition to even reach the Antarctic continent, much less to cross it via the South Pole, has become the great polar success story of the twentieth century" (Books on Ice).
Shackleton embarked in 1914 on the Endurance to make the first traverse of the Antarctic...Learn More
BROWN, John. The North-West Passage and the Plans for the Search for Sir John Franklin. A Review.London : 1858
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed in a secretarial hand on the title page, "Presented to John S. Pakington, 1858." Pakington served as First Lord of the Admiralty, 1858-9 and 1866-7. During his second term, he unveiled the memorial to Franklin at Waterloo Place.
John Brown (1797-1861) served as a midshipman with the East India...Learn More
KEATE, George. Account of the Pelew Islands,Philadelphia : 1789
Scarce edition, in a contemporary binding produced in Pennsylvania or Maryland, of this popular account of Captain Henry Wilson's voyage aboard a British East India Company ship called the Antelope, and of its wreck near Palau. The work includes a short dictionary of the Palau language.
"In 1783, the Antelope... was wrecked on a reef near...Learn More
COOK'S FIRST VOYAGE - MANLEY, Isaac George. Logbook kept while commanding HMS Fairy.Mostly at sea : 1789
A window onto the later career of Isaac Manley (1755-1837), mourned on his death as the last remaining participant in Cook's historic first voyage. Manley joined Cook's crew aged only 13 and was promoted to midshipman on 5 February 1771, during the journey home. He rose to the rank of admiral of the red, becoming one of the fifteen most senior...Learn More
PARRY, William Edward. Journals of the First, Second and Third Voyages for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific,London : 1828
First abridged edition of Parry's three attempts to find the north-west passage. These voyages were originally published between 1821 and 1826 in quarto volumes.
Parry's Arctic voyages established a number of firsts: crossing 110°W; discovering what would prove to be the entrance to the north-west passage (and navigating a good portion of...Learn More
JONES, John D. Life and Adventures in the South Pacific.New York : 1861
First edition. "Two young men, led to engage in the whale fisheries, and spending five years in the employment, have compiled from their logbooks and their recollection a plain, unvarnished narrative of this period" (preface).
The men sailed on a bark whaling ship named the Emily Morgan. Their account describes the whales they encountered,...Learn More
ROWE, Alice Jane. Manuscript diary titled "Alice's Diary of her voyage from England to W. Australia June 9th to July 11th 1911."At Sea on RMS Orvieto : 1911
The descriptive diary of Alice Rowe on her journey from England to Australia with her husband, Harold Aldis. Her account features her experience travelling as an Australian immigrant in the early 20th century on RMS Orvieto, which she considers "a hotel 300ft long".
Alice Jane Rowe (1883-1960) spent over a month aboard the ship, and her...Learn More
HAKLUYT, Richard. Hakluyt's Collection of the Early Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries, of the English Nation.London : 1809-12
First edition thus and "the best and most complete edition" (Lowndes), one of 250 royal paper copies. This is the third overall - the first for two hundred years - and reflects the revived interest in Elizabethan maritime activity. It is an accurate reprint of the best folio edition, with the addition of those voyages which were published in the...Learn More
LA PÉROUSE, Jean François Galaup de. Voyage autour du Monde,Paris : 1797
First edition, an attractive set with strong impressions of the plates. La Pérouse's work is a "magnificent production, and some authorities consider the engraving and craftsmanship to be superior even to that in the Cook-Webber atlas … It is one of the finest narratives of maritime exploration ever written and certainly deserves to hold a...Learn More
