'Dangerous Work', Diary of an Arctic Adventurer. Numbered, limited edition with slipcase.

Arthur Conan Doyle, Edited by Jon Lellenberg & Daniel Stashower.

ISBN 10: 0712358846 / ISBN 13: 9780712358842

Published by The British Library, London, 2012

About this Item

In 1880, a young medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle, in need of remuneration and adventure, took time away from his medical studies in Edinburgh, to act as ship's surgeon on a 6-month Arctic voyage on a whaling vessel. His inexperience led to a challenging and sometimes life-threatening journey. He kept a diary of that voyage of his experiences, along with illustrations of his travels. Some of those maritime experiences went on to influence a number of his stories in years to come. 'Dangerous Work', Diary of an Arctic Adventurer, by Arthur Conan Doyle. Edited by Jon Lellenberg & Daniel Stashower. His journal lay largely forgotten outside his descendants, until it was offered for sale at Christie's in May, 2004, where it actually went unsold, and was then listed as remaining in the ownership of the heirs of Anna Conan Doyle. The journal was reproduced in facsimile in 2012, by the British Library in the UK, and the University of Chicago Press in the USA. Alongside the standard trade edition, the Publishers also produced a limited and numbered collector's edition. 150 copies were issued with 100 in the UK (offered at £150) and 50 in the USA (offered at $250). Here we have one of those scarce limited edition copies - in this case a British Library version, hand numbered 20 out of 150 copies. Now very scarce. This deluxe edition consists of a slipcase, with the book inside mirroring the design of the original journal. The book contains a photographic facsimile of the journal with a full transcript. and additional supporting text. Published by The British Library, London. 2012 first, numbered, limited edition. A fine hardback, which appears to be in unread, as new condition, housed in a near fine slipcase. The slipcase has grey linen cloth over boards, with a gilt whale tail design. With some slight scuff marks. The book has a grey linen spine with gilt titles, and facsimile printed marbled paper over boards. With printed endpapers. Text is bright and clear throughout. Soundly bound. a handsome copy of a scarce publication. Text in English.  Prelims + 368pp.  Approximate dimensions in slipcase: 265mm high x 226mm wide x 42mm deep. Weight approximately 1680g (unpacked). Many more photos available on request.

Seller Inventory # LAN9506

Bibliographic Details

• Title: 'Dangerous Work', Diary of an Arctic Adventurer. Numbered, limited edition with slipcase.
• Publisher: The British Library, London
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0712358846
• ISBN 13: 9780712358842
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition, Limited Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • History
  • Travel

About this title

Synopsis

In 1880 a young medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle embarked upon the “first real outstanding adventure” of his life, taking a berth as ship’s surgeon on an Arctic whaler, the Hope. The voyage took him to unknown regions, showered him with dramatic and unexpected experiences, and plunged him into dangerous work on the ice floes of the Arctic seas. He tested himself, overcame the hardships, and, as he wrote later, “came of age at 80 degrees north latitude.”

Conan Doyle’s time in the Arctic provided powerful fuel for his growing ambitions as a writer. With a ghost story set in the Arctic wastes that he wrote shortly after his return, he established himself as a promising young writer. A subsequent magazine article laying out possible routes to the North Pole won him the respect of Arctic explorers. And he would call upon his shipboard experiences many times in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, who was introduced in 1887’s A Study in Scarlet.

 

Out of sight for more than a century was a diary that Conan Doyle kept while aboard the whaler. Dangerous Work: Diary of an Arctic Adventure makes this account available for the first time in a beautiful facsimile edition that reproduces Conan Doyle’s notebook pages in his own elegant hand, accompanied by his copious illustrations. With humor and grace, Conan Doyle provides a vivid account of a long-vanished way of life at sea. His careful detailing of the experience of arctic whaling is equal parts fascinating and alarming, revealing the dark workings of the later days of the British whaling industry. In addition to the facsimile and annotated transcript of the diary, the volume contains photographs of the Hope, its captain, and a young Conan Doyle on deck with its officers; two nonfiction pieces by Doyle about his experiences; and two of his tales inspired by the journey.

 

To the end of his life, Conan Doyle would look back on this experience with awe: “You stand on the very brink of the unknown,” he declared, “and every duck that you shoot bears pebbles in its gizzard which come from a land which the maps know not. It was a strange and fascinating chapter of my life.” Only now can the legion of Conan Doyle fans read and enjoy that chapter.

A special limited, numbered edition of the clothbound book is also available. In addition, a text-only e-book edition is published as Dangerous Work: Diary of an Arctic Adventure, Text-only Edition.

About the Authors

Jon Lellenberg is the US agent for the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd and coeditor of Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters.

Daniel Stashower is coeditor, with Jon Lellenberg, of Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters.