A Negro Explorer at the North Pole
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, (1912). First Edition. Hardcover. Small 8vo. Pp. xx, 200. Frontis. b&w photo portrait with tissue guard. Illustrated with six additional b&w photo reproductions on coated paper. Introduction by Booker T. Washington, foreword by Robert E. Peary. Appendices. Copyright page states Published February, 1912. Publisher's blue cloth with titles stamped in white, b&w photo portrait mounted in blind-stamped frame. Spine just a tad sunned, board edges lightly rubbed, minimal toning to leaf edges and endpapers, head edges dust soiled. Else clean, crisp and square. Very Good+. Item #12665 An important account from African-American history, in the scarce first edition, well preserved.
Robert Peary's trusted scout claimed to be the first man to reach the North Pole, during their 1908-09 expedition. Matthew Alexander Henson (1866 - 1955) was an African-American explorer who accompanied Peary on several voyages to the Arctic over a period of nearly 23 years. Henson wrote this autobiography as a result of curiosity about how a colored man had come to be Peary's "sole companion from the realm of civilization when he stood at the North Pole."
Price: $1,500.00