The Quest for the Northwest Passage

This anthology gathers narratives by European navigators who, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, sought a sea route through the Arctic archipelago from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Extracts describe icebound winters, failed channels, contact with Inuit hunters, scurvy, and the loss of ships, from the early voyages of Frobisher and Hudson through later naval expeditions. Maps and logs sit beside later reconstructions. There is no single hero. The book is a documentary collection of Arctic exploration, not a continuous history written by one scholar and not a novel of polar survival.

Bound in pale blue cloth, blocked with a black and silver design by David Eccles. Pale blue endleaves with map by Piggott in blue. Black slipcase.