Lot 256

MACANDREW, ROBERT, FRS [1802-1873]: NORWAY AND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

NOTES ON A DREDGING EXCURSION TO THE NORTH CAPE

£750

Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography

Auction: 9 October 2019 at 12:00 BST

Description

an 18pp. manuscript account written by MacAndrew detailing his voyage to the North Cape, Norway, in 1855, 333 x 211mm, a few corrections

Footnote

Note: Robert MacAndrew was a merchant, owning the McAndrew & Co. shipping company. He was a keen conchologist, which led him to undertake various expeditions (Britain and Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Norway and the Gulf of Suez) dredging for shells. His collection forms the bulk of the mollusc collection at Cambridge University Museum of Zoology.

This account by MacAndrew recalls his expedition to Norway - accompanied by two of his children. It comprises the text of a presentation MacAndrew made to the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool on 10th December 1855, and subsequently published in the proceedings of that society. MacAndrew describes how he set sail from Liverpool, proceeded to Oban, headed across to Orkney and Shetland and then set sail for Norway, eventually dredging for molluscs well inside the Arctic Circle.

Alongside reporting on shells and previously unrecorded species, MacAndrew comments on the scenery, the local people, their way of life and reindeer migration.