[BROWN, R. Rudmose, R.C. MOSSMAN, J.H. HARVEY PIRIE.] The Voyage of the "Scotia". Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration in Antarctic Seas by Three of the Staff. Edinburgh & London, William Blackwood and Sons, 1906.
8vo. Original grey cloth, illustrated and lettered in white and black, top edge gilt, purple endpapers (the rarer binding variant); pp. xxiv, 375; numerous plates after photographs, 3 maps including 2 folding and in colour; rubbing to binding, especially to spine, two marginal tears to large folding map (repaired on verso), two preliminary leafes carelesly opened, resulting in upper outer corners with loss, not touching printed surface, occasional spotting, else a very good copy; housed in a custom-made drop-back box.
First edition, presentation copy, signed and inscribed by the expedition leader Spiers to the MP John E. Sutherland on half-title. The book is dedicated in print to William Spiers Bruce, the leader of the expedition, who wrote the preface as well. It is an account of the Scottish Antarctic Expedition (1902-4). Sailing aboard the Scotia, the expedition carried out important scientific and cartographic work but was overshadowed by the expedition under Captain Scott then in Antarctica. 'The entire crew and scientists were virtually all Scottish, and the funds came from Scottish subscribers… This highly successful expedition returned to Scotland with large scientific collections which formed the basis of the Scottish Oceanographical Institute, founded by Bruce in Edinburgh in 1907' (ODNB).
William Speirs Bruce (1867-1921) 'was given the opportunity in 1895–6, as first assistant, to help direct the high-level meteorological observatory on Ben Nevis. From there he was invited to join the Jackson–Harmsworth expedition as naturalist in its second year in Franz Josef Land (Zeml'a Franca-Iosifa). Here he collected numerous biological specimens and met the Norwegian Fridjof Nansen, who was returning from the Fram expedition. In 1898 he accompanied, as scientist, Major Andrew Coats in the Blencathra to Kolguyev, Novaya Zemlya, and the Barents Sea, and was then invited to sail with the prince of Monaco in the Princesse Alice, the finest of all oceanographic survey ships at that time, to Hope Island, Bear Island, and Spitsbergen. He returned with the prince to Spitsbergen in 1899 to survey Red Bay in the north of the archipelago. Bruce in 1900 was among the best-equipped and most experienced of all polar scientists in Britain. He had amassed a large collection of rocks and biological specimens, and was an experienced land and marine surveyor and a competent meteorologist. He offered his services in 1899 to Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society, who was organizing an Antarctic expedition to be led by Robert Falcon Scott (the Discovery expedition, 1901–4). Bruce proposed himself as a member of the scientific staff, as either leader or deputy, but Markham delayed long in his reply and offered only a junior post. Bruce had already firm plans for his own expedition. Markham saw him as a rival to Scott: "I do not understand why this mischievous rivalry should have been started, but I trust that you will not connect yourself with it" '(Bruce MSS). With the blessing of the Scottish Geographical Society, Bruce raised funds for the Scottish national Antarctic expedition in the well-equipped Scotia (1902–4). The entire crew and scientists were virtually all Scottish, and the funds came from Scottish subscribers, notably James and Andrew Coats of Paisley. Two summers were spent in biological and oceanographical work in the Weddell Sea and the south Atlantic. New coastline was discovered and named Coats Land, and the intervening winter was spent in Scotia Bay and on Laurie Island, South Orkneys, where an observatory, Omond House, was built, which remains as the oldest of all scientific observatories in Antarctica. This highly successful expedition returned to Scotland with large scientific collections which formed the basis of the Scottish Oceanographical Institute, founded by Bruce in Edinburgh in 1907. Seven volumes of scientific reports from the Scotia expedition were published between 1907 and 1919.
Provenance: John Ebenezer Sutherland (1854 - 1918) was a Scottish Liberal Party politician. As partner in a company of fish curers in Portsoy he became an expert on the fishing industry. - This book can be found signed and inscribed by up to three of the auhors, but has rarely turned up inscribed by Spiers himself.
Rosove 51; Spence 193.
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