An Account of the Arctic Regions

This 1820 account of the Arctic regions was the first book on whaling to be published in Britain.

Published in 1820, this two-volume guide to the Arctic was written by distinguished scientist and explorer William Scoresby (1789–1857). Volume 1 is a geographical survey of the region and includes information on ice conditions, weather, zoology, and the question of a northern passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.Written by explorer, scientist and later clergyman William Scoresby (1789–1857), this two-volume guide to the Arctic regions was first published in 1820. Scoresby, himself the son of a whaler and Arctic explorer, first sailed to the polar regions at the age of eleven, and was later apprenticed to his father. He became a correspondent of Sir Joseph Banks, and his extensive research on the Arctic area included pioneering work in oceanography, magnetism, and the study of Arctic currents and waves. He surveyed 400 miles of the Greenland coast in 1822. This account was the first book published in Britain which was devoted solely to the whale fisheries. Volume 1 is a general geographical survey of the Arctic region and includes detailed observations of polar ice conditions, atmospherology, and zoology. The book also considers the much-debated question of northern sea communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.