[ANTARCTICA] PALMER, JAMES C.[ROXALL]. Thulia; a Tale of the Antarctic. New York: Samuel Colman, 1843. First edition, inscr...

Description:

[ANTARCTICA]
PALMER, JAMES C.[ROXALL]. Thulia; a Tale of the Antarctic. New York: Samuel Colman, 1843. First edition, inscribed, apparently pre-publication, "Elizabeth S. Hurst/from her affec't Brother/Dec. 15 1842" (it is unclear in whose hand this is; possibly Palmer's, given the early date). Publisher's purple cloth blocked in gilt and blind. 9 x 5 3/4 inches (23 x 14.5 cm); 72 pp.; half-title. Wood-engraved plate and 11 illustrations by A.T. Agate, 2 of which are full-page. Spine somewhat faded, some minor soiling to the binding, occasional foxing within, but a rather nice copy overall.

Palmer was the Assistant-Surgeon to the Wilkes expedition that established Antarctica was a continent, and he was on board the Peacock when it was subsequently wrecked in the mouth of the Columbia River later in the voyage. His subsequent career was illustrious, and he ultimately became the Surgeon General to the U.S. Navy. The Thulia, the vessel for which his poem is titled, is based on the Flying Fox, the smallest of the six vessels in the exploring squadron, and the work is dedicated to its commander, Lieutenant William M. Walker. Issued just a year after the completion of the expedition, it has been referred to (by Rosove) as the "earliest published Antarctic poetry." The illustrator A.T. Agate was also with the Wilkes expedition as an official artist, and the music for the Antarctic Mariner's Song was written for the guitar by James D. Dana, the geologist to the Expedition. The poem has a prose appendix (pp. 65-72), which provides a factual account of the voyage. Conrad p. 53; Haskell 186; Renard 1188; Rosove 246.A2c; Spence 890.

C Property of a Massachusetts Gentleman
Estimate $700-1,000

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