Fram over Polhavet ("Farthest North"): den norske polarfaerd 1893-1896. Med et tillaeg af Otto Sverdrup.

Kristiana [Oslo]: H. Aschehoug & Co,, 1897. First edition in Norwegian, following the English edition of the same year. Nansen's expedition was "a remarkable achievement in Polar exploration" (PMM), undertaken to investigate "the polar basin north of Eurasia by drifting in the ice with the currents northwest from the New Siberian Islands across or near the pole" (Arctic Bibliography). "Nansen returned to international acclaim not only for the voyage itself but for its results, proof of a deep Arctic Ocean, free of any land masses or islands, and extensive data on magnetism, zoology, and oceanography. His account of the journey, Farthest North, was a worldwide bestseller and prepared him for an effective life of diplomacy" (Books on Ice). Fram over Polhavet, the official account of the first Fram expedition, is beautifully illustrated from photographs and from Nansen's own sketches, for which he "claims no artistic merit," but which are nonetheless atmospheric and effective. Like many of the polar books from the heroic age, this is a superbly produced work. Two volumes, octavo. Original bluish green cloth, spines and front covers lettered in gilt, front covers with gilt decorations and "The Fram" on vol. I, and "Northwards through the Drift Snow" on vol. II, publisher's device on rear boards in blind, grey endpapers, marbled edges. Photographic frontispiece in vol. I, portrait frontispiece in vol. II, 41 plates (3 colour), 3 folding colour maps, illustrations in text. Contemporary ownership signature of one M. Svensen on each front free endpaper. A few neat repairs or marks to cloth, spine of vol. I cockled, occasional foxing, light dampstaining to lower edge at end of vol. I. A very good copy. Arctic Bibliography 11983; Books on Ice 5.2; Howgego III N3; Printing and the Mind of Man 384.