Beyond Petsora Eastward

First published in 1899, this entertaining account of two expeditions into the Arctic regions is a glimpse into the hands-on, often bizarre approaches of late nineteenth-century naturalists. Across a collection of diary entries and scientific papers, the authors explore the ornithology, botany and geology of Arctic Norway and Russia.

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In 1895, naturalists Henry J. Pearson (1859–1913) and Colonel H. W. Feilden (1838–1921) set out to Norway for the first time, aiming to study Arctic bird life, geology and botany. This book, first published in 1899, is a collection of their diary entries and papers. Full of humour and written almost novelistically, Pearson's diary describes his ornithological findings and the other noteworthy features of their voyages - he includes an anecdotal account of the process of catching a whale, and describes their own less than ideal ship, and the many difficulties of travelling in the often inhospitable and little-explored North. In the second half of the book, Feilden focuses on geology and botany in three technical papers accompanied by his own photographs. A remarkable account of an ambitious project, this book forms part of the nineteenth-century genre of scientific travel literature, and contains still-relevant information about the Arctic environment.