Russian Arctic (3 results)

None. Condition: None. Oblong Octavo album (16,6x21 cm). 25 cardstock leaves. With 50 mounted original gelatin silver photographs ca. 8,8x11,3 cm (3 ½ x 4 ½ in). Most photos with period pencil captions in English. Period full cloth album with gilt lettered generic title "Photographs" and blind-tooled ornaments on the front board. Binding slightly rubbed at the edges, photos with mild silvering, but overall a very good album, with strong, interesting photos.   Historically interesting collection of original, well-preserved photographs taken during a voyage of the British cargo ship Cairnryan (1888-1932) through the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and Russian Arctic. As follows from the photographs, the compiler was an English crew member or employee aboard the ship, documenting his work-related voyage in the early 1900s. The collection features 50 excellent vernacular photographs, including two early views of the former lumber hub of Arkhangelsk (today's Russia). The images capture local workers at a construction site surrounded by stacks of fine lumber, and the "Dalarne" ship docked at the Arkhangelsk port, likely transporting timber from Russian Arctic. Mediterranean highlights include about ten well-executed photos of Italian port cities, showing Pompei (House of the Fauna, Forum, Amphitheatre, House of the Vetti), Venice (Saint Mark's Basilica mistakenly captioned "St. Paul"), and scenic coastal views of Bagnara and Livorno. Five interesting photos of Algiers, feature bustling harbor scenes in Bona and Henaine, including workers with head coverings transporting cargo to moored sailboats. There's also a striking image from Greece, documenting the original stone lighthouse in Petras, razed during modernization in the 1970s. Another important photo captures the now-demolished Grünentaler Hochbrücke bridge over the Baltic Canal. The rest of the Mediterranean photos mostly show harbors and waterfronts of Nice and Santander. "The Black Sea" series feature about five early views of Constantinople (today's Istanbul) and Odessa. The "Ottoman" photos capture the Bosphorus coastline with Rumeli Fortress, Palace Hatice Sultan, and the Great Mecidiye Mosque on the foreground. Especially interesting is a candid, urban scene from Odessa, showing dozens of workers busily loading Imperial Russian trains. The other interesting photographs include excellent, lively portraits of the crew (watchkeeping, anchoring, steering, etc.), images of the Cairnryan in calm and stormy weather, and views of the harbors of Dartmouth and Hull. Overall, historically interesting collection documenting a British Merchant ship's cruise through the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and the Russian Arctic.

Fair. Verso stabilization to centerfold split and adjacent tears, as well as points of oxidization from old color. Corner, upper left, reattached. Size 15.75 x 19.5 Inches. This is an old color example of Jan Jansson's c. 1650 map and nautical chart of Novaya Zemlya in the Russian Far North, which appeared in the fifth volume of his Atlas Novus , also known as the 'Water World' atlas, the first true sea atlas. When this was issued, Novaya Zemlya was as hot in the European imagination as it was cold in fact. The archipelago was seen as a hopeful waypoint on the long-sought Northeastern Passage to Asia and was becoming increasingly popular with whalers. A Closer Look The map depicts the island of Nova Zembla or Nova Zemla in contemporary Western European sources, or Novaya Zemlya (????? ?????) in Russian, meaning 'new land,' located in the Russian Arctic. Coverage ranges from the Kola Peninsula (including the city of Kola or Murmansk) in the west to the Yenisei River in the east, with the main focus being on the island of Novaya Zemlya and the Russian mainland immediately opposite to the south. The Arctic Circle is marked prominently at 66.5° N latitude. Towns and settlements are named throughout, with navigational and topographic features also noted, especially along the coasts (shoals, bays, cliffs, islands, and so on). The chart includes two stunning compass roses, numerous rhumb lines, a sea monster, and ships. The title cartouche and additional cartouche at the bottom-right contain illustrations of local wildlife, human figures meant to be Russian trappers or Cossacks and members of the area's indigenous peoples, and an explanation of the latitude lines on the map, accounting for the curvature of the Earth towards the poles. The place names and textual explanations on the map are a combination of Dutch, Latin, and Romanized Russian (such as 'Mourmanskoy More'). A group of Dutch names on the Russian mainland just south of the island reflect that nation's commercial aspirations in the region: Straet von Nassau, Nieu Hollant, Nieu Walcheren, Nieu West Frieslant. Novaya Zemlya and the Search for a Northeast Passage Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the concept of a Northeast Passage through the Arctic to Asia held the same significance as North America's Northwest Passage. The nations of Northern Europe, particularly Russia and Holland, were eager to find an easy route to Asia via the Arctic to access the lucrative trade with China and India. Willem Barentsz's first expedition in 1594, in which he discovered Novaya Zemlya and several other Arctic islands, was widely publicized in Europe and led to the assumption that a Northeast Passage may indeed be feasible. His second voyage in 1595 was considered a truncated failure due to inclement weather and ice packs in the Kara Sea. A year later, his third voyage in 1596 was an utter disaster when the sailors were trapped by ice on the northern part of Novaya Zemlya. The crew somehow survived the winter in a small cabin (marked here) built from timber salvaged from their ship; when the weather warmed somewhat, Barentsz's men used the ship's remaining timber to build two smaller vessels that they expected would be able to navigate the ice better. A harrowing summertime journey of seven weeks cutting through ice along the coast of the island allowed some of the men to be rescued and return to Holland to tell the tale, though Barentsz himself perished. In 1871, the Norwegian seal hunter Elling Carlsen rediscovered Barentsz's cabin on Novaya Zemlya - perfectly preserved due to the Arctic cold. Publication History and Census This chart appeared in the fifth volume of Jansson's Atlas Novus , titled 'Atlantis Majoris Quinta Pars Orbem Maritimum.' (also known by its Dutch title 'Het Vijfde Deel Des Grooten Atlas, Vervatende De Water-Weereld'), commonly known as the 'Water World' atlas and constituting the first true sea atlas intended for a general audience. The blank verso here indicat.

None. Condition: None. Oblong Quarto album (ca. 22x30 cm). 32 thick paper leaves. With 130 mounted original gelatin silver photographs, with smaller ones from ca. 7,1x5 cm (2 ¾ x 2 in) to ca. 3,6x3 cm (1 ½ x 1 ¼ in), larger ones from ca. 16,3x10,3 cm (6 ½ x 4 in) to 8,5x14 cm (3 ¼ x 5 ½ in), and the rest of the photos ca. 7,6x11 cm (3 x 4 ½ in); with a mounted folding printed map showing the route of the expedition (ca. 21x67 cm) and a hand-drawn map of the expedition base camp (ca. 20x28,2 cm). Most photos with period ink captions in Russian on the mounts. Several photographs with dates indicated. Period grey patterned full cloth album with blind-tooled decorations with industrial motif on the front board, fastened with a string; dried flower specimens mounted to the inner side of the rear board. Binding slightly worn with mild damp stains on the right margin of the front board, one page detached, several photos age-toned and with mild silvering, but overall a very good album with strong, interesting photos.   Historically significant album of rare original gelatin silver photographs taken and collected during the Nordvik-Khatanga Soviet Oil Exploration Expedition in 1939-1940. The compiler took part in the expedition together with his wife "Sonkes," who, according to the photographs, was head of a tailor's workshop at the expedition base camp in Nordvik. Neither reports nor official photographs from the expedition were found through our research of digital archives and libraries. The expedition, organized by the USSR's Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route at the onset of WWII, aimed to study the oil potential of Nordvik Bay. A team of polar explorers set sail from Arkhangelsk on a steamship, accompanied by a cargo convoy and powerful icebreakers. Navigating through the Yugorsky Shar Strait, the expedition made several stops at Dixon, Melyuskin, and Vstrechny Islands before establishing its base in Nordvik Bay. Despite extensive operations, drilling at Nordvik over the next seasons proved largely unsuccessful, revealing only small oil pockets with little commercial value. The album contains 130 lively vernacular photographs from the 1939-1940 expedition, including eight well-executed photos of the expedition base camp and its premises (the general view of the settlement, main street, local bathhouse, and canteen). About ten photographs portray construction works as the team members attempted to build rotor No. 2. The images depict the site of the rotor, "the beginning of the work," workers pulling out a tankette from snow, digging, and using special equipment. There are also about a dozen photographs showing the general view of rotor No. 1 - "the first in the world in Arctic conditions," "a boiler room for rotor No. 1," "a rotor drilling rig No. 1 with machinery room," "steam winch 250 hp for rotor No. 1," "oil drilling rigs," "general view of a coal mine," etc. At least forty lively candid photographs show the expedition members (mostly the compiler and his wife) sewing at a tailor's workshop, resting after work, feeding dogs, and posing by a tankette, on sleds, in tents, at a meteorological station, by the storage room, near the assembly crane, etc. Especially interesting are five photos of a fire at a local hospital, documenting the funeral of deceased polar explorers and the compiler standing solemnly beside the victims' camp. There are also about ten candid individual and group portraits of local Yakuts, showing "Sonkes with a young Yakut woman", "Yakut Family and Sonkes", "Yakut Man with a Purchase", young Yakut women in a school reading books, and Yakut fishermen posing by their camp. The other interesting photos portray the expedition members at the October and May rallies (with "Sonkes" clearly visible in the crowd), four and two-engine seaplanes at Cape Kosisty, "bird market on Vstrechny Island," steamships ("Stalingrad," "Dixon," etc.) and icebreakers ("Ermak", "Litke," etc.) from the expedition, etc. The album closes with the gene.