Buy this book on-line

l'abbe PROFESSOR P. ROURE : 1931 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY AND PHOTO JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO SPITSBERGEN NORWAY AND THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN LYRICALLY TOLD BY A PRIEST, PROFESSOR AND INTREPID TRAVELLER

8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. On offer is a super, original 1931 diary, photo journal and manuscript relic of a trip to the Arctic Circle via Iceland and Spitzbergen handwritten in French by l'abbe and Professor P. Roure. [Father P. Roure was a priest in Igney in Lorrainne and a professor at the private Catholic college 'Institut Saint Joseph' in Épinal, France.] Wonderfully executed in French the Professor details his trip over 156 hand numbered pages with 30+ black and white photos mounted with corners. Beginning July 14th through to August 25th the author and his party leave Hamburg to Paris to Cherbourg dallying around the coast of Great Britain they then travel by way of the Hamburg-American Line's 'Resolute' commanded by the celebrated and renowned Captain Fritz Kruse, going north passing the Faroe Islands to Iceland for five days and over two dozen pages including a super description of Reykjavík, then a small city of 24,000, the intrepid party leaves Iceland. Keenly observant we learn of a sighting of a whale pod, the Vatna Glacier, the Vestmannaeyjar, the volcanic region of Thingvellir, the Almannagjá gorge, spectacular and famous geysers including the 30 foot Gryla at Gufudalur (Steam Valley) and the geothermal Efri-Reykir field. A seasoned observer, Roure does a superb job annotating and referencing the photos to the narrative and he leaves few details out of his voyage: the intricacies of reading a compass by compensating for polar magnetic declination; the distant mountain peaks and jagged ice of enormous proportion, evocative of voyages of discovery: Adams Glacier, Wagon Way and Gully (Gullybreen) Glaciers in Magdalenefjorden, are compared and photographed. Announcing their arrival 'Cercle Polaire 66º 33' [the Polar Circle 66º 33']' he notes a sudden drop in temperature, increase in fog cover, and the very late daylight through the cabin window. The expedition held a soiree that evening. At a calmer time in glacial waters an inspection of the luxury steamship becomes opportune with a super passage on the equipment. On July 30th they arrive at Magdalena Bay, Spitsbergen. The day ends with the spectacle of the Midnight Sun: "31 Juillet. 5h. Nous sommes à la frontière du monde polaire; la mer libre est coupée nettement par une immense barrière de glace." [31 July. 5 o'clock. We are at the frontier of the polar world; the sea cut clean with an immense ice barrier.] They travel to a northernmost point of 529 miles from the North Pole, along a near endless ice wall, The Professor is overcome by Kings Bay (Kongsfjorden), Cross Bay, Haakon promontory, Moller Bay, the Mont du Prince Olav, and scattered imposing icebergs. Returning to Kongsfjorden, they visit the coal-mining village Ny-Ålesund, located on its southern shore, one of only four permanent settlements on Spitsbergen to this day. Roure finds himself reminiscing about Roald Amundsen who flew on the airship Norge from Ny-Ålesund to Alaska in 1926 with Umberto Nobile and also having departed from there on his fatal flight only 3 years prior to the writer's arrival. They pass Bear Island in the Barents Sea which was at the time owned by a federal Norwegian mining company, and festivities begin onboard. In total more than two dozen pages are devoted to their time in Spitsbergen. The approximately 8¾ x 6¾ inch red cloth over paper boards inscribed and labelled on the front, cloth splitting at bottom of spine, overall G+.. French Manuscript. Book Condition: Good+

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.