NANSEN, Fridtjof. Fram over Polhavet. Den Norske Polarfærd 1893–1896.
Kristiania: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1897.
Two volumes, 8vo. First edition in Norwegian. Original publisher’s green gilt cloth.
Roald Amundsen’s personal, signed, and expedition-carried copy, with both volumes signed and inscribed by him:
“Medfulgt på alle mine reiser” - “Accompanied on all my travels.”
Fridtjof Nansen was the central figure of nineteenth-century polar exploration: the first man to cross the Greenland ice cap, the architect of the Fram expedition of 1893–1896, and the originator of the drifting-ice strategy that carried exploration closer to the North Pole than ever before. Fram over Polhavet is the foundational text of modern polar travel, recording not only the narrative of the expedition but the methods, discipline, and scientific philosophy that reshaped exploration thereafter. The work was published in English shortly thereafter as Farthest North, the title under which it became internationally known.
Roald Amundsen built his own achievements directly upon Nansen’s work. He adopted Nansen’s techniques, planning, and polar systems, and ultimately sailed Nansen’s ship Fram itself — first with the intention of a North Pole expedition, and later, famously, to Antarctica. This set represents the direct intellectual and practical inheritance between the two greatest figures in Norwegian polar history.
This is Amundsen’s own working copy, signed and inscribed by him with the extraordinary declaration that it “accompanied [him] on all [his] travels.” Among the very few books Amundsen chose to carry repeatedly, this set travelled with him on his major expeditions, including the Northwest Passage voyage in Gjøa and the expedition that culminated in his attainment of the South Pole. The present state of the volumes - including structural wear, loosened hinges, and stressed bindings - is wholly consistent with repeated packing, handling, and consultation under expedition conditions, and provides compelling physical corroboration of Amundsen’s inscription. Few books in the history of exploration can claim such sustained and intimate association with the achievements they helped inspire.
Provenance: Roald Amundsen (1872–1928), signed and inscribed by him; thereafter retained within the Amundsen family; Christie’s, Polar Exploration & Travel sale, 27 September 2006; subsequently held in the Odfjell Collection, one of the most important Norwegian polar libraries of the modern era. The provenance is complete, uninterrupted, and entirely consistent with the historical importance of the object itself.
