A very RARE and beautiful book written by John Barrow and published by John Murray in 1818...."A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions;; Undertaken Chiefly for the purpose of Discovering a North-East, North-West or Polar Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific: From the earliest periods of Scandinavian Navigation, to the departure of the Recent Expeditions, under the orders of Captains Ross and Buchan". Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) was a promoter of exploration, member and President of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society and appointed in 1804 as the second Admiralty Secretary. He developed a friendship with Sir Joseph Banks, and together they were a driving force in promoting and supporting exploration to expand British imperialism. This book, one of many he authored, support the expansion of Arctic exploration in the first half of the 1800's to discover the Northwest Passage. The goal of the exploration voyages were to find the fabled "Strait of Anian" between Asia and North America. From Hill, "Two appendices included in the present work are: 'Mr. Buchan's expedition into the interior of Newfoundland' and 'A relation of the discovery of the Strait of Anian; made by me, Capt. Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado, in the year 1588 ...' Maldonado's account was fiction. The true strait that separates Asia and North America was discovered reported by Vitus Bering in 1728 far to the north and connecting the Pacific and Arctic oceans. The Northwest passage water connection to the Atlantic Ocean was not discovered and crossed until 1903 by Amundsen in the 'Gjoa'. Book in good condition for age. Inside clean pages, marbled endpapers. Giant folding map at the start in good condition with light stains-see photos. Externally beautiful binding with light signs of wear, lacking title on spine. UNCOMMON.