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Details
Sir George Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958)
Under the North Pole. The Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition, [New York?:] Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931. 4° (305 x 230mm.). Printed in blue and black, 2 studio portrait photographs by Hal Phyfe, signed by the photographer in red on the image and in ink on the verso, 44 plates on 18 leaves (most printed recto and verso), illustrations. Original black half morocco, the flat spine with overall design in gilt of a compass rose, gilt edges, the others uncut, contained within original rivetted white metal box.
CONTRIBUTORS EDITION: LIMITED TO 29 COPIES, this number 8, with inscription 'H.W./Good luck/V.B./N'.
Having worked under Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Frank Hurley and Ernest
Shackleton, Wilkins went on to lead a number of expeditions in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. 'In 1931 came his famous venture by submarine in Arctic waters made... with the twofold purpose of exploring the region from Spitzbergen westwards via the North Pole to the world. A series of mishaps and mechanical breakdowns caused the expedetion of the Nautilus to be abandoned, but not before it had been shown that a submarine could operate safely beneath the polar ice. On 30 November 1958 Wilkins died suddenly in Massachusetts. He had often expressed a wish that his ashes might be scattered near the North Pole and this service was carried out by the nuclear-powered submarine Skate, breaking through the polar ice after a long voyage such as Wilkins himself had planned' (DNB).
Under the North Pole. The Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition, [New York?:] Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931. 4° (305 x 230mm.). Printed in blue and black, 2 studio portrait photographs by Hal Phyfe, signed by the photographer in red on the image and in ink on the verso, 44 plates on 18 leaves (most printed recto and verso), illustrations. Original black half morocco, the flat spine with overall design in gilt of a compass rose, gilt edges, the others uncut, contained within original rivetted white metal box.
CONTRIBUTORS EDITION: LIMITED TO 29 COPIES, this number 8, with inscription 'H.W./Good luck/V.B./N'.
Having worked under Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Frank Hurley and Ernest
Shackleton, Wilkins went on to lead a number of expeditions in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. 'In 1931 came his famous venture by submarine in Arctic waters made... with the twofold purpose of exploring the region from Spitzbergen westwards via the North Pole to the world. A series of mishaps and mechanical breakdowns caused the expedetion of the Nautilus to be abandoned, but not before it had been shown that a submarine could operate safely beneath the polar ice. On 30 November 1958 Wilkins died suddenly in Massachusetts. He had often expressed a wish that his ashes might be scattered near the North Pole and this service was carried out by the nuclear-powered submarine Skate, breaking through the polar ice after a long voyage such as Wilkins himself had planned' (DNB).
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