N by E. by Kent, Rockwell - 1998

US: Wesleyan University Press, 1998. Paperback. Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. A classic tale of seafaring, shipwreck, and survival, reprinted from Wesley an University Press's 1978 facsimile of the original. When artist, illustrator, writer, and adventurer Rockwell Kent first publis hed N by E in a limited edition in 1930, his account of a voyage on a 33-fo ot cutter from New York Harbor to the rugged shores of Greenland quickly be came a collectors' item. Little wonder, for readers are immediately drawn t o Kent's vivid descriptions of the experience; we share "the feeling of win d and wet and cold, of lifting seas and steep descents, of rolling over as the wind gusts hit," and the sound "of wind in the shrouds, of hard spray f lung on a drum-tight canvas, of rushing water at the scuppers, of the gale shearing a tormented sea." When the ship sinks in a storm-swept fjord within 50 miles of its destination, the story turns to the stranding and subsequent rescue of the three-man crew, salvage of the vessel, and life among native Greenlanders. Magnificently illustrated by Kent's wood-block prints and narrated in his poetic and highly entertaining style, this tale of the perils of killer nor'easters, treacherous icebergs, and impenetrable fog - and the joys of sperm whales breaching or dawn unmasking a longed-for landfall - is a rare treat for old salts and landlubbers alike.