Item #215 [ARCTIC: NOVAYA ZEMLYA] Na Novoi Zemle: Ocherki i nabroski [i.e. At the Novaya Zemlya: Essays and Sketches]. K. D. Nosilov.

[ARCTIC: NOVAYA ZEMLYA] Na Novoi Zemle: Ocherki i nabroski [i.e. At the Novaya Zemlya: Essays and Sketches]

St. Petersburg: A.S. Suvorin, 1903. Item #215

[4], 327, [2] pp. Octavo. In original publisher’s printed wrappers with a photo illustration on the front cover. Some minor wear of extremities, overall
a near fine copy.

First edition. A rare collection of essays and memories by a Russian polar researcher, ethnographer and writer Konstantin Nosilov (1858-1923) describes his life and work on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago where he extensively travelled, served on the Russian meteorological station in the Malye Karmakuly settlement (Yuzhny Island) and wintered three times in 1877-1891. The author writes about polar nights and hurricanes on Novaya Zemlya, Aurora Borealis, his travel across the Yuzhny Island, hunting trips, celebrations of Christmas and Easter on Novaya Zemlya, the Samoyeds’ (the Nenets) traditions of meeting the first rays of sun, customs of sacrifice to idols, funerals et al. Several essays describe Nosilov’s travels on the Yamal Peninsula and in the lower reaches of the Ob River in the late 1890s: sturgeon fishing, travels across tundra, cannibalism of the natives of the River Taz estuary (essay ‘‘Our Cannibals’’) et al. Nosilov went on 1000 km trips across the northern and southern islands of the Novaya Zemlya on dog sledges (1889), built a new meteorological station in the Matochkin Strait (1890-91), opened the northernmost school in the Malye Karmakuly (1889). He was elected a member of the Russian Geographical Society (1884), was in correspondence with Russian writers A. Chekhov, D. Mamin-Sibiryak, polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen and others.

Worldcat locates eight copies (University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, British Library, Universite Jean Moulin, Leipzig University).

Sold

See all items in Arctic, Travel
See all items by