Mission Seeks to Find the Lost Discoverer of the South Pole
- by Michael Stillman
The Search For Amundsen website.
By Michael Stillman
Some of the greatest nonfiction writers were those who participated in history. Among the greatest of the great are the explorers who expanded the tiny pre-Columbian known universe to the entire world. Names like Columbus, Cook, Lewis and Clark, while perhaps not the most noted masters of prose, wrote some of the greatest books (or letters, as in Columbus' case) ever. Of course, no one gets to write the final chapter of his or her story. That is left to those who survive.
By the 20th century, pretty much all of the places you might want to live had been discovered and explored. Columbus' America, Cook's Australia, Lewis and Clark's Louisiana were all well known and populated by European descendants. Exploration was now left to the most inhospitable regions on Earth, notably the poles. Only the hardiest could hope to enter these lands where death awaited every turn. These are places settlers will never settle. Six months of darkness and twelve months of bitter winter welcomes no one. Still, the explorers came, and among those were Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Englishman Robert Falcon Scott.
Amundsen cut his exploratory teeth in the Antarctic in the waning days of the 19th century as part of a Belgian expedition. By 1903, he was off leading his own expedition, and it was a momentous one. After centuries of unsuccessful attempts, Amundsen led the first successful attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage, a route through Arctic waters north of the Canadian mainland. That brought him to his attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole in 1911.
Robert Falcon Scott was more of a traditionalist. It was his Navy career that put him in charge of the ship Discovery when it traveled to Antarctica at the time Amundsen was tracking down the Northwest Passage. His trip, too, was a great success, but no attempt was made to reach the Pole. In 1911, however, he joined the competition with Amundsen, attempting to reach the South Pole. Unlike Amundsen, who was up on using sled dogs and techniques of those who lived in far northern climates, Scott resorted to a combination of horses, motorized sledges, dogs, and simple manpower, humans pulling the heavy sledges of supplies.
History records that both were successful in their attempts to reach the South Pole. It also notes, of course, that only one made it first. That would be Amundsen, with his speedy dogs (Amundsen also needed fewer supplies as he cleverly ate the dogs on the way back). The Norwegian was well prepared for every possible contingency, and his journey to the Pole and back was as uneventful as could be under such harsh conditions. Forty-five days later, Scott arrived, to the horror of finding a Norwegian flag resting on the Pole. From there it was all downhill. The weather turned brutal, even by polar standards, and Scott and his men were not equipped for a return trip under such conditions. They froze. Shortly before his death, Scott wrote the next-to-last chapter of his life, which appeared in his final book. The following spring, Scott's last written words and his remains were found by a search party.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.