SCORESBY, William, Jr. An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the Northern Whale-Fishery. Edinburgh, 1820.
2 volumes, 8vo (214 x 127 mm). Half-titles. 24 engraved plates and maps (9 folding), 4 folding tables. (Slight offsetting to title-pages.) Modern half calf. FIRST EDITION OF "THE FOUNDATION STONE OF ARCTIC SCIENCE" (DNB). Scoresby sailed to the Spitsbergen and Greenland whaling grounds for over 30 years, and his work recounts the history of discovery in the Arctic as well as describes 19th-century whaling. He was the first to report on the annual break-up of polar ice, and surmised that a Northwest Passage might be found in the southern reaches of the Canadian Arctic at rare intervals. He sailed just 500 miles south of the North Pole in 1806, reaching 82 30', a record which stood until 1827. Arctic Bibliography 15610; NMM 833; Sabin 78167.
