AMEDEO, Luigi (1873-1933). On the "Polar Star" in the Arctic Sea, London, 1903, 2 volumes, 4to, 16 photogravure plates, maps and illustrations, original pictorial buckram gilt. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. (2)

AMEDEO, Luigi, Duke of the Abruzzi (1873-1933).  On the "Polar Star" in the Arctic Sea ... With the Statements of Commander U. Cagni upon the Sledge Exhibition to 86º 34' North, and of Dr. A. Cavalli Molinelli upon his Return to the Bay of Teplitz. Translated by William le Queux. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1903. 2 volumes, 4to (244 x 190mm). Half titles, photogravure portrait frontispiece of the author in volume one, titles printed in red and black, and 15 photogravure plates, 5 maps printed in colours, including 2 folding maps in a pocket at the end of vol. II, 2 large folding panoramas, illustrations. Original blue pictorial bevelled buckram gilt, top edges gilt (some very faint white staining and scuffing, small area of blistering to the upper cover of the second volume). FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, published in the same year as the first Italian edition. "The object of the expedition of the Polar Star was to sail as far to the north as possible along some coast-line, and then to travel on sledges towards the Pole from the place where the winter had been passed. The Pole was not reached, but the sledge expedition, led by Commander Cagni, pushed on to a latitude which no man had previously attained, and proved that with determination and sturdy men, and a number of well-selected dogs, the frozen Arctic Ocean can actually be crossed to the highest latitude" (from the Introduction). Tremaine (ed.). Arctic Bibliography 10423; Howgego Encyclopedia of Exploration 1850 to 1940: The Oceans, Islands and Polar Regions A2; Stam Books on Ice: British and American Literature of Polar Exploration 4.11. (2)