The possibility of approaching the North Pole asserted.

The scarce first edition in book form of a series of papers on the possibility of a Northwest Passage, published the same year as Sir John Ross's first Arctic expedition. The papers were originally issued as pamphlets in 1775 on the eve of Captain Cook's third and final voyage to find a Northwest Passage.

Daines Barrington, the original author of these papers, had been a lawyer by trade but an active member of the Royal Society and wrote on many topics of science and natural history. He had been inspired to write these papers by Captain Phipps's 1773 expedition towards the North Pole, in which Phipps had been one of the first to take a scientific approach to his journey. His failure, as well as the failure of Cook's voyage to ascertain a possible route through the Northwest, convinced a generation that the passage was highly unlikely or downright impossible, including Gore, Bligh, and Vancouver.

Colonel Mark Beaufoy (1764-1827) was a pioneering astronomer and mountaineer. He was the first Englishman to summit Mont Blanc, and commanded one of the most important private observatories at Hackeny Wick. He edited Barrington's papers and added several of his own, starting at p.228, to bring knowledge of the Arctic up to date amidst a resurgence of interest in Arctic exploration. Perhaps most importantly is the map, compiled by Beaufoy, to bring a new map of the Arctic into circulation. It was published just a month before Ross left on his expedition, and shows just how little of the American side of the Arctic had been revealed.

First edition; 8vo (22 x 14 cm); engraved title-page, folding map as frontispiece; contemporary half calf, marbled boards, spine professionally refurbished, a very good copy; xxiv, 257 pp.

Sabin 3629.