Originally published in 1879, this illustrated work by Albert Hastings Markham (1841 1918) opens with accounts of Arctic exploration from the sixth to the nineteenth centuries, including the expeditions led by Constantine John Phipps (1744 92), William Edward Parry (1790 1855) and George Nares (1831 1915). The journal of Thomas Floyd (c.1754 78), who served as midshipman under Phipps in 1773, comprises the most significant part of the work. Outlining the difficulties faced by an eighteenth-century expedition, ranging from encounters with wildlife to adverse weather conditions, Floyd's...

Albert Hastings Markham (1841 1918) was the cousin of the subject of this biography, published in 1917, and greatly admired his older relative, who had acted as his mentor. Clements R. Markham (1830 1916) is remembered as a prolific writer on historical geography, many of whose works are reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. As a boy, he showed great enthusiasm for both history and exploration, and after a chance encounter with an admiral, joined the navy as a cadet. After eight years, he determined to leave the service and pursue a career as an explorer and writer. His first...