Item #10328 Little America : Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic : The Flight to the South Pole. Richard E. Byrd.
Little America : Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic : The Flight to the South Pole.
Little America : Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic : The Flight to the South Pole.
Little America : Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic : The Flight to the South Pole.
Little America : Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic : The Flight to the South Pole.
Little America : Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic : The Flight to the South Pole.

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Little America : Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic : The Flight to the South Pole.

New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1930. Hardcover. Sm 4to (9.5” x 6.75”), gilt blue cloth. Frontis., xvi, 416 pp., numerous b&w plates, 2 folding maps. Inscribed by the author at half title with additional autograph note in envelope laid in. Three original photographs laid in. CONDITION: Very good, very light wear to extremities, a few spots of foxing to front pastedown and ffep, front cover a bit slack, paper split at hinge between half title and frontis.

First edition, second impression. Inscribed by Byrd to Anna Maria Hoit, the mother of cartographer and inventor of the sun compass Albert Bumstead: “To Mrs. Horace Bumstead, mother of my friend Albert Bumstead, without whose genius it would not have been possible for us to conquer by air the north and south Poles, I present this volume with appreciation and cordial regards. Dick Byrd, Dec. 28, 1930.” 

Three original photographs are laid into the volume, including a group portrait picturing Byrd holding the sun compass while Bumstead and others look on; a portrait of Bumstead himself; and an image of the sun compass. A small note from Byrd laid in reads: “To the mother of Albert Bumstead, who by his inventions has done so much to make for the success of[?] flying in the polar regions—with best of good wishes, Richard E. Byrd.”

Albert Bumstead (1875–1940) was chief cartographer of the National Geographic Society from 1915 until his death. Prior to that role, he served as cartographer to the 1912–1915 joint Yale and National Geographic expeditions to Machu Picchu, led by Hiram Bingham. A skilled inventor, Bumstead pioneered numerous surveying techniques and instruments that were later widely adopted. As the inscription and note here indicate, Admiral Byrd credited Bumstead with making a critical contribution to the success of his expeditions in the form of his sun compass, which enabled more accurate navigation at the poles. Byrd honored Bumstead by naming a mountain in Antarctica after him.

A fine association copy of Admiral Byrd’s account of his first aerial exploration of Antarctica.

Item #10328

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