Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-01
NANSEN'S ARCTIC JOURNEY
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New and Popular Edition Of the Story Of
North Pole Search.
NEW STUDY OF SPANISH HISTORY
Novel Dealing with Carlist Pretenders
Men Engaged in Literary work on
Of War-BishOp Perry's
BoOks-BOOlxs and Magnzfnes.

The American people are as familiar
with the voyage of Fridtjof Nansen into the
polar regions a few years ago as are the
people of Europe and his journey has been
praised in America as freely as that Oh
any American explorer. 1t Is therefore NJ
ting that at a time when another expedi-
ton is being fitted out under the leader
shin of an American newspaper correspond
ent the Harpers should bring out a popular
| edition of the story Of Nansen's Journey
a one-volume edition containing supstah-
TALLY everything that was to be found In
the more costly edition. Nansens 'fartn-
est North is the story OF a wonderful jour
| new in search of the North Pole. Manson
| himself is a remarkable man. he Is a
man of courage and great conceptions He
is a student and a keen observer. He has
| tact and can command great resources. He
| makes plain that he did not start upon ms
i Dolar trim hastily and without due consid-
\ Grafton of the perils he was to encounter,
| for he introduces the story of his eXplora-
| tions with a brief account OF other explora-
| tions in the far north. He begins far back
| with the old Norsemen and their ouIneEs
to Ireland, Greenland and the coast OF
North America. He tells of the various eX-
| petitions by Franklin, Greeley, De Long
and others, and shows how he had been led
to believe that the North Pole might be
reached, not by the use of sledges alone
nor on a steamship, but by using both of
them combined. The preliminaries for the
Nansen expedition were the completest.
The story of the journey is a thrilling
one. hansen tells Of the parting from
friends In Norway, of the first few nights
on the trackless ocean, of the first ice en-
countered amid fogs and adverse winds, of
1 tho Anal p,chinp on through MANY miles
of broken ice floating on the edges of the
Polar sea, of the freezing up of his staunch
little vessel as he had expected it would,
and then the long wait of the winter night
drifting with the immense ice pack OF the
north. That winter night was a long one,
The Fran remained frozen in the ice dur
ing the winter of 1884, all OF 1891 and
until July, 1895. z The narrative of how this
long period was spent by the small party
of explorers is, BY no means as monotonous
as one might expect 1t to be. There were
a number of adventures and there was
something for, them to do all the time
Then the longs Journey on sledges- taken
by Nansen and a companion over the ice
fields is described in a manner to impress
the reader with fhe extreme danger OF the
task. II was on this journey that Nansen's
"farthest north'u was reached. the feat
which has made him famous.
The charm of Nansen's story Is that 1t Is
simply told without effort at exaggeratior
or undue glorihcation of the writer. NanseI
writes well and ahakes his narrative inter
esting. He has picked out the most inter
esting topics and given attention to Incl
dents that are most impressive. While he
was northward bent in a wild chase for &
phantom he had the good sense to ever beai
in mind the perspective of his journey. He
has been more than explorer and his bool
Is the result. The illustrations are many
and handsome. though a few maps or charts
would have added to the value of the book
Harper & Bro, New York, So.
1t is doubtful II there can be found II
any other single volume published so com
prehensive and clear a view OF the essentia
facts Of Spanish history as illustrating Span
ish character as in Fernold's new book OF
The Spaniard in History" Rev. James @
} Fernold, author of a STUDY OF the Inquisi
tlon,' and associate editor OF the STANDARD
t dictionary, has made a special study o
| Spanish history and In this volume hal
given a brief resume OF the principal events