Under the North Pole; The Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition

[New York]: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931. Deluxe Limited Edition. Cloth. Near fine. Deluxe limited edition of Under the North Pole, signed by Sir Hubert Wilkins and Lieutenant Commander Sloan Danenhower.. Octavo, xiv, 347pp. Three-quarter blue cloth, gray paper boards, title within decorative gilt panel on spine, top edge gilt. "De luxe edition" limited to 275 numbered copies, this being number 45. Featuring original silver gelatin photographic frontispiece portrait of author with tissue cover, limited to 275 prints made for this edition before the negative was destroyed. Tipped-in errata slip with two corrections. Complete with frontispiece, one map, and 37 photographic illustrations. Solid text block, a touch of toning to front board, faint rubbing to gilt on spine, a near fine example. Previous ownership bookplate on front flyleaf. Lacking publisher's slipcase. (Arctic Bibliography 19493) (Fitzgerald 747) Signed by the author and a fellow expedition member, Sloan Danenhower, on limitation page. Before leading the submarine expedition described in this book, Sir Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958) was the only Australian wartime photographer to receive the Military Cross in World War I for his efforts rescuing a group of wounded soldiers. Later, while on a vacation with his wife, Wilkins met Lincoln Ellsworth, and the two created plans for a trans-Arctic expedition via a submarine, later known as the Nautilus (named after Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). Ellsworth funded the expedition, but the Nautilus faced many challenges and technological issues that forced Wilkins to end the expedition before reaching the North Pole. Despite this, Wilkins and the expedition proved that submarines could operate beneath the polar ice cap, allowing for the success of future missions.
Commander Sloan Danenhower, son of Jeannette Arctic Expedition member Lieutenant John W. Danenhower, commanded the Nautilus. He contributed the chapter on the special equipment of the Nautilus to this volume.