Borrowing from his naval experience and his expertise as a historian, David Stam performed extensive archival and secondary research for this study of the printed needs of several polar expeditions, including those of Adolphus Greely in the International Polar Year 1881-83 in northernmost Canada. Stam analyzes shipboard- and expedition-based periodicals throughout the so-called Heroic Age of exploration (ca. 1880-1921), as well as the enduring books of Ernest Shackleton's legendary journey aboard the Endurance. In parallel, he examines the primarily religious literature distributed as Loan Libraries of the American Seamen's Friend Society, including a description of the three libraries assembled by Richard Evelyn Byrd for the successive bases at Little America (1929-41). Stam concludes with suggestions for further research.


About the Author
David H. Stam is an American librarian, scholar and author specializing in book history and polar exploration. Deirdre C. Stam is associate professor at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science of Long Island University and the author of Henson through the Ages.

Reviews
"Stam is a very lively writer, and what could have been a forced march through a topic as potentially barren as the pack ice proves to be quite fertile, providing polar history geeks with an unexpectedly fascinating examination of an aspect of shipboard life that has received insufficient attention." -- David James * Anchorage Daily News *
"No collection of Arctic or Antarctic books worth its salt-or, perhaps I should say, worth its ice-should be without it." * Arctic Book Review *
"The Stams' bibliographic expertise has enabled them over time to research in detail. . . An impressive and ground-breaking volume comprehensively covering 'The Book Cultures of High Latitudes'." -- Colin Steele * Biblionews *



Book Information
ISBN 9781605830841
Author David H. Stam
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Grolier Club of New York
Publisher Grolier Club of New York
Dimensions(mm) 9mm * 7mm * 1mm