8vo (222 x 134 mm). 3 colored lithographed maps. (Some dampstaining.) Publisher's blue cloth stamped in gilt and blind, later hand-lettered paper label on spine (some wear and staining, small losses to paper label). Provenance: Captain William Penny (1809-1892), Arctic explorer (presentation label from the editor); Joseph-Rene Bellot (1826-1853), French naval officer (signature); Arthur Bemrose (pencil annotation indicating purchase); collector's bookplate, a few pencil marks. 

Second edition, PRESENTATION COPY, with presentation label from the editor James Mangles to Captain William Penny. The first edition of 1851 contains "17 brief items concerning the Franklin search." This rare second edition contains 46 items, being "excerpts from magazines, newspapers, official despatches, letters, reports, and narratives of expeditions, concerning the Northwest Passage, the Franklin Search (then in progress), the north polar sea, routes to the Pole, wintering experiences, animals and place names" (Arctic Bibliography 10849). Sabin 44251; Staton & Tremaine/TPL 3282.

A SUPERB ASSOCIATION COPY OF THIS RARE FRANKLIN SEARCH BOOK. Captain William Penny was commander of one of the Franklin search expeditions of 1850-1851.  Penny was influential in finding relics of Franklin's winter camp on Beechey Island and on Cape Riley.  French naval officer Joseph-Rene Bellot volunteered in the British service in the search for Franklin, accompanying the expedition of 1851-1852 under Sir William Kennedy on Lady Franklin's yacht, the Prince Albert. On his second and last voyage on the H. M. S. Phoenix, he met a tragic death, drowning in Wellington Strait.