Blue cloth has some fading to edges, silver title still very bright; internally a near fine copy. Dustwrapper (priceclipped) has some edgewear, particularly to spine extremities, & a small closed tear at head of front fold. 94pp, b&w line illustrations. 200x130mm. 240g. 'Nansen's life of faith & determination falls into two parts, first that of an Arctic explorer, & then that of a great international humanitarian statesman. Born near Oslo, his boyhood was spent on the snow & mountains & streams of Norway. After his scientific studies at the university he made his first great expedition, the crossing of the ice mountains of Greenland. Soon he was off again in his little ship, the Fram, heading for the North Pole, leaving the sea & continuing further North on foot than anyone before him. Already a Norwegian hero, Nansen was able to take a leading part in securing Norway's independence. When his country was on the verge of starvation in 1918 he saved the situation by a visit to America, & then he became a leader of the League of Nations work for prisoners of war & refugees. His successful relief of thousands of families in central & eastern Europe was not so spectacular as his expeditions of the far North, but it brought him the Nobel Prize & an even greater reputation throughout the western world. This dual story, in which the same characteristics are evident throughout, is told by Mr Noel-Baker from personal knowledge of his subject.'

Fridrjof Nansen Norway