The North-West Passage and the Plans for the Search for Sir John Franklin. A Review. BROWN, John.

First edition, presentation copy, inscribed in a secretarial hand on the title page, "Presented to John S. Pakington, 1858." Pakington served as First Lord of the Admiralty, 1858-9 and 1866-7. During his second term, he unveiled the memorial to Franklin at Waterloo Place. John Brown (1797-1861) served as a midshipman with the East India Company between 1811 and 1815. A defect in his sight forced him out of the service, and he made a fortune as a wholesale goldsmith and diamond merchant. He became "an energetic advocate of expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin. Working on the assumption that Franklin would have followed his orders, and using his own knowledge of prevailing sea currents, Brown defined the area which the expedition was ultimately found to have reached, but his advice was ignored. Alexander von Humboldt complimented Brown on this work which summarized the current state of knowledge of the Arctic and pressed for further searches for Franklin" (ODNB). Pakington (1799-1880) sat in parliament as a Conservative and had a long political career. In parliament, he vocally supported Lady Franklin's argument that her husband should be recognized as the official discoverer of the North West Passage. During his first spell as head of the Admiralty, he announced the building of the Royal Navy's first two ironclad battleships. He later served as president of the Institution of Naval Architects and helped found the Royal College of Naval Architecture. Arctic Bibliography 2302; Sabin 8517. Octavo. Tinted lithographic frontispiece, 2 hand-coloured folding maps. Original blue pebble-grain cloth, spine lettered in gilt, boards panelled in blind, gilt Arctic Medal on front cover, yellow coated endpapers, top edge untrimmed. Near-contemporary book label of Percy James Winser (1854-1917), chemist; pencilled marginalia in index. Spine toned, edges crumpled and fraying, bump to fore edge of front cover, inner hinges a little tender but still holding, small stain on first map, pp. 337-440 unopened: very good.