The Nansen Photographs
The Nansen Photographs tells the story of Norwegian Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen and his ground-breaking effort to reach the North Pole in the specially-designed polarship Fram. The story starts when the plan for the expedition was launched in 1890 and continues until the end of Nansen’s international lecture tour in 1897. We see how Nansen selected the cameras for the expedition, and photographs and information about the cameras themselves supplement this part.
One chapter is dedicated to the early life of Nansen and another shows how the ideas for the expedition and the ship developed. We follow the construction of Fram through numerous letters between Nansen and the ship’s designer and builder, Colin Archer, and five different sets of drawings of the vessel from the initial proposal to the final version are presented.
The main elements of the book are every single recovered photograph taken during the expedition together with personal diary entries from Nansen and seven of his crew members about the situation when the photographs were taken. This brings new life to previously known photographs and introduces the reader to hundreds of unknown photographs from the expedition. Due to the large format of the book, the smaller details in the photographs give new insight into the work and daily life on board, the equipment and the clothing.
Opposing diary entries from Nansen and the men about the same situations show that life on board was not always easy. Nansen’s lack of empathy and practical skills caused frustration among the men, and several of them resorted to fists to sort out their differences.
When Nansen leaves the ship for his legendary 18 month journey with Hjalmar Johansen towards the North Pole and Franz Josef Land, we follow both Nansen and Johansen and the crew left on board through their photographs and diaries.
The return to Norway and the spectacular celebration along the entire Norwegian coast from Vardø in the north to Kristiansand and Kristiania (Oslo) in the south is told in detail through photographs, newspaper reports, speeches, menus and ephemera. Never has the capital of Norway been so prepared to celebrate.
The 712-page book is printed on 130 gr paper in format 30 x 30 cm. The illustrated hardcover is protected by an illustrated dustjacket. The book contains 850 photographs and illustrations, 35 ship drawings and 25 maps.
The book includes diary excerpts from Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Sigurd Scott Hansen, Henrik Greve Blessing, Hjalmar Johansen, Anton Amundsen, Bernhard Nordahl and Adolf Juell.
The limited edition
A boxed limited edition has been produced in 200 numbered sets. Each set includes a complete leather-bound copy of The Nansen Photographs and also a leather-bound companion volume Fridtjof Nansen’s Maps. The companion volume is made especially for the limited edition.
Fridtjof Nansen’s Maps
When Fridtjof Nansen left Norway for the Arctic on 24 June 1893 he brought with him a number of maps and charts. These were maps from previous expeditions to the area, but also published maps made by several of the World’s leading cartographers from Germany, England, Russia and the United States.
This book contains Nansen’s personal collection of maps brought on the Fram Expedition 1893–96, and also the main maps made based on the expedition’s own explorations.
The map collection gives a thorough insight into the exploration of the Arctic from 1734 to 1896, including handwritten and annotated maps, and rare charts given to Nansen by the Russian Government. They are accompanied by a chapter of notes describing the expeditions on which most of these maps are based.
The book has 112 pages in format 30 x 30 cm and contains 70 historical maps and charts.
Among the maps in the book are the Arctic expeditions of David Grey, Antonius de Bruijne, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Adolphus Greely, James Booth Lockwood, F.J. Dorst, Henry Gore-Booth, Emil Bessels, A.P. Novosil’sky, John Rodgers, Thomas W. Long, Lieutenant Onatzewitsch, Edward Holm Johannessen, Benjamin Leigh Smith, Calvin Hooper, Karl Weyprecht & Julius Payer, Karl Koldeway, James Lamont, Fyodor Litke, Mikhail Reyneke, Stepan Moiseev & G. Rogachev, Ilya Berezhnykh & Petr Pakhtusov, Nikolay Krapivin & Avgust Tsivolka, Fyodor Rozmyslov, Elling Carlsen, Erik A. Ulve, Fritz E. Mack, P. Qvake, T. Torkildsen, Ivan Ivanov & Nikolay Ragozin, Stepan Malygin & Aleksey Skuratov, Stepan Muravjev & Mikhail Pavlov, Dmitriy Ovtsyn, Fyodor Minin, Alexandr Middendorf & Vasiliy Vaganov, Khariton Laptev, Semyon Chelyuskin, Vasiliy Pronchishchev, Petr Anzhu & Ilya Berezhnykh, Prokopiy Kozmin, Dmitriy Laptev, Ferdinand Vrangel & Fyodor Matyushkin, Gleb Shishmarev, Joseph Billings, Willy Kükenthal, Nils Christoffer Dunér, Fredrik Wilhelm von Otter, Theodor von Heuglin, Douglas Clavering, William Scoresby, Henrik Mohn, Cornelius Gisbert Zorgdrager, Charles Francis Hall, Frederick Schwatka, John O. Spicer, Franz Uri Boas, Fredrick William Beechey, George Strong Nares, George Washington De Long, Aleksandr Bunge & Eduard von Toll, Frederick George Jackson and Fridtjof Nansen.
