THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION UNDER THE MAGNIFYING GLASS

Today I have been doing some tests with my new "close up" camera lenses. As I am obsessed with the Franklin expedition, one of my first ideas has been to take pictures of the book "Sir John Franklin´s Last Arctic Expedition" by Richard Cyriax, surely one of the bests and more complete books which treats about this subject and which could be considered its encyclopedia.

Here we have the review about the book by William Battersby, done time ago, in Goodreads, here we have the review done in the Cambridge Journals and here an abstract of the book. Unfortunately, the book is not longer printed but you can still find the original, or more likely, its facsimile version of 1997 with prices which can vary between 20 to several thousand pounds.

The book itself had a turbulent life. It was published for first time in 1939 and most of their copies were destroyed while they were stored during a German bombing in the second World War. Long time after, in 1997, it was re-published again. However, even after this re-edition, the book is hard to find at a reasonable price. Perhaps, after this new and unexpected revival  of the interest about this matter provoked in my opinion mainly by the succes of the Dan Simmons´s novel "The Terror" and the project of making a film about it,  we could soon see a new edition of this magnific book which almost surely won´t be an accurate copy of the original as the edition of 1997 actually is.

Little is known about Richard Julius Cyriax, the author wasn´t an historian as many can think, he was a physician who was in his time, as many others still are , captivated by the fate of the last Franklin Expedition. I have not been able to find any picture of him, the man who wrote one of the books which perhaps could be a best-seller in the years to come is a mistery by himself or at least he is for me and for the general public.

While I was taking these photographs I would have liked to find through them some hidden secrets, perhaps something hidden among the paper fibers which at a short distance resembles me like ice crests. I would have liked to find some new clues in its pages and maps that could have given me some answers to the neverending questions, but the result has been the same as always: no answers.

Cover of  "Sir John Franklin Last Expedition" by Richard J. Cyriax.
My beloved copy find in England by my friend William Greenwell

The Arctic Press Logo.
To them we owe the privilege of having this copy in our hands.

The "King William Land" after known as "Island".
That tiny piece of Earth still hide secrets and generates long  and neverending discussions and it will keep doing it for many years or even forever.

Through the pages of  "Sir John Franklin Last Expedition" you will find the entrance to the mistery which wrap the fate of the last Franklin´s expedition but, like in an impossible labyrinth, you couldn´t find the exit.

Not only more than a hundred of men were lost in those remote lands but two big and well built ships. Perhaps they will be the only witnesses that we can aspire to find which, with some luck, could add some new information which could help to solve the mistery or which could only aid to generate new questions to the list.