Arctic Searching Expedition: A Journal Of A Boat-Voyage Through Rupert’s Land And The Arctic Sea, In Search Of The Discovery Ships Under Command Of Sir John Franklin. With An Appendix On The Physical Geography Of North America

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852., 1852. 12mo. pp. 1 p.l., [v]-xi, 516, 6(ads), [6]ads. 8 wood-engraved text illus. original blind-stamped cloth (light wear to extremities, a few tiny wormholes in lower front joint, light dampstain to upper outer corner throughout, occasional light foxing). First American Edition. Richardson had previously accompanied John Franklin as surgeon-naturalist on his Arctic overland expeditions of 1819-22 and 1825-27. In 1848, at the age of sixty, he volunteered to take part in the search for his old colleague, who had been missing since 1845. This is the account of that unsuccessful expedition which travelled down the Mackenzie River by boat, eastward along the coast to the Coppermine River, returning overland to Fort Confidence on Great Slave Lake. Richardson returned to England in the spring of 1849, leaving his assistant John Rae in command. An account of Rae’s journey that summer down the Coppermine River is also given here. Considerable attention is paid to the ethnography of the Esquimaux and Kutchin, Cree and Chipewyan Indians of the regions traversed. The appendices include notes on physical geography, climatology, plant distribution, insects and native vocabularies. Arctic Bib. 14489. Peel 266n. Sabin 71025. Smith 8648. TPL 3030. Wagner-Camp 203:2. cfField 1300. cfLande 1411. cfStreeter VI 3716. Story p. 709. DCB IX pp. 658-661.. 1st Edition. Hardcover.