# Is "Arctic Explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55" by Elisha Kent Kane a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Arctic Explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55 by Elisha Kent Kane (Childs & Peterson, 1856) is identified by: The true first edition was issued in two octavo volumes of 464 and 467 pages, imprinted Philadelphia: Childs & Peterson (with Boston, New York, and Cincinnati distributing houses also named on the title page), and illustrated overall with upwards of three hundred wood engravings drawn from Kane's own expedition sketches. Not to be confused with Kane's account of the first Grinnell expedition, The U.S.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first edition was issued in two octavo volumes of 464 and 467 pages, imprinted Philadelphia: Childs & Peterson (with Boston, New York, and Cincinnati distributing houses also named on the title page), and illustrated overall with upwards of three hundred wood engravings drawn from Kane's own expedition sketches
- Volume I contains a folding map and eleven further full-page plates with tissue guards, and volume II a folding map and seven further plates, each volume opening with a tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait
- Copies were issued in blind-stamped, gilt-lettered publisher's cloth recorded in more than one contemporary color, both brown and green cloth being documented, and dealers cite the large folding map's labeling of the Arctic waters as 'Open Sea' rather than 'Kane's Sea' as a mark of an early printing of the map
- Publisher imprint reads Childs & Peterson
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Elisha Kent Kane |
| Publisher | Childs & Peterson |
| Year | 1856 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition was issued in two octavo volumes of 464 and 467 pages, imprinted Philadelphia: Childs & Peterson (with Boston, New… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The true first edition was issued in two octavo volumes of 464 and 467 pages, imprinted Philadelphia: Childs & Peterson (with Boston, New York, and Cincinnati distributing houses also named on the title page), and illustrated overall with upwards of three hundred wood engravings drawn from Kane's own expedition sketches. Volume I contains a folding map and eleven further full-page plates with tissue guards, and volume II a folding map and seven further plates, each volume opening with a tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait. Copies were issued in blind-stamped, gilt-lettered publisher's cloth recorded in more than one contemporary color, both brown and green cloth being documented, and dealers cite the large folding map's labeling of the Arctic waters as 'Open Sea' rather than 'Kane's Sea' as a mark of an early printing of the map.

## Is this the true first?
Not to be confused with Kane's account of the first Grinnell expedition, The U.S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: A Personal Narrative (Harper & Brothers, 1853); Arctic Explorations covers only the second (1853-55) Grinnell expedition, which Kane himself commanded.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Arctic Explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55* by Elisha Kent Kane a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/arctic-explorations-the-second-grinnell-expedition-in-search
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.