Ultima Thule: Artic Explorations, Matti Lainema and Juha Nurminen, 2001, HC, NF.

Lainema, Matti, et al. Helsinki, John Nurminen Foundation and Werner Soderstrom Corporation, 2001.

English, Near Fine, HC, 4to, 13 1/2" x 10 1/4",  349 pp.

ISBN: 951025651X

Maroon pictorial paper over board, featuring pasted full-color illustration of an expedition ship to front, white lettering to spine, superior copy inside and out, with only the most minimal, unobtrusive wear to bindings, text-block, dust jacket and endpapers. Near Fine pictorial dust jacket, featuring black-and-white illustration of an expedition ship to front and spine, white, maroon, and black lettering to front and spine, black lettering to back and interior flaps, full-color photographs of authors and other books by the publishers to interior flaps, clean and intact. Protected in a paper-backed Mylar sleeve. [5] 349 pp., replete with full-color images, maps, and expedition maps, Forward by President of the Republic of Estonia, Lennart Meri, Introduction by Juha Nurminen, 13 chapters: “Pytheas - The Predecessor of Arctic Explorers?,” “The Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic - The Real Conquerors of the Polar Circle,” “The Vikings - Pioneers of Exploration,” “Exploring for Trade, Gold and Power,” “The Russians are Coming,”  “Whaling in the Service of Arctic Science,” “Trading Posts and Expeditions into the Interior,” “East and West Meet in Alaska,” “The Royal Navy Sails to the Arctic Ocean,” “Franklin and the Mystery of the Northwest Passage,” “The Race for the North Pole,” “Darkness Falls on the North Pole,” and “The Return of the Vikings,” Epilogue, expedition records "The race to the North Pole," Map Credits, Other picture credits, Literature, and Index of names. From back of dust jacket: "Ultima Thule tells the history of northern expeditions over 2 500 years, from Pytheas to Peary, from antiquity through the Vikings and the great journeys of exploration up to the conquest of the North Pole...For the first time this book studies broadly -- with the aid of previously unpublished drawings and charts -- Arctic expeditions from both East and West."