Lot 2206: ROSS, JOHN. 1777-1856.

A Voyage of Discovery, Made under the Orders of the Admiralty, in His Majesty's Ships Isabella and Alexander, for the Purpose of Exploring Baffin's Bay, and Inquiring into the Probability of a North-West Passage. London: John Murray, 1819. 4to (270 x 205 mm). [6], errata slip, 14, [2], xxxix, 17-252, [2], cxliv pp ("Official Instructions" pp 1-14 bound before the Introduction). 31 charts, maps and plates, several folding and several hand colored. Contemporary calf gilt with green label, rebacked with original spine laid down. Occasional offsetting. Provenance: Kimbolton Castle (bookplate). FIRST EDITION. Includes a "Comparative List of the Northern and Southern Eskimaux Language," as well as a list of "Words the Same in Both Dialects" (pp 122-23). "Ross's expedition had some notable achievements including the confirmation of William Baffin's description of Baffin's Bay exactly two hundred years earlier ... His encounter with a previously unknown group of native people whom he referred to as 'Arctic Highlanders' was memorably drawn by Sackheuse and known through its reproduction in Ross's volume ... In effect Ross began a new era in Arctic research" (Books on Ice 2.5). Abbey Travel 634; Field 1320; Sabin 73376.