These two books are titled "Narrative Of Discovery And Adventure Of The Polar Seas And Regions", written by Professor Leslie, Professor Jameson, And Hugh Murray, Esq., the first book was published and printed in New York by J. and J. Harper in 1831 and the second book was published in New York by Harper & Brothers in 1836, and they were part of Harper's Family Library series. Both books have paper-covered boards inscribed with the title on the spine and front covers, blank endpapers, maps, and more items on the back cover for Harper's Family Library, and they read "Harper's Stereotype Edition" at the top of each regular title page. The first book has an inscription at the top of the front flyleaf which reads "J. S. Dwight Feb 20th 1831" and four engravings at the front depicting Icebergs, Arctic Animals (polar bears, reindeer, wolf, fox, dog &c.), A Snow Village (with igloos and sled dogs), A Group of Esquimaux, all with tissue guards, then the vignette title page, a fold-out Chart of the Polar Seas (it includes Lapland, Greenland, and Baffin's Bay in Canada, and the chart is not to scale because large parts of the Atlantis Ocean are left out), the regular title page, a two-page Preface, one page of contents, a list of engravings, the text starts on page 9 and runs to page 373, followed by an eighteen-page catalogue of books at the rear. (The catalogue covers books in the Family Library again.) The regular title page reads "Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Regions: with Illustrations of Their Climate, Geology, and Natural History; and an Account of the Whale Fishery", so the book covers an important industry here and abroad. The second book has exactly the same contents and wording as the first book and the text runs to page 373, and the second one lacks the four engravings at the front of the book - we believe that was purposeful - and it is dated 1836 on the title page and 1837 on the front cover, so the only differences between the two books are the dates, the engravings in the front, and the long book-catalogue at the rear - it is present in the first book and not present in the second one. Both books are Harper's Family Library No. XIV, the first English edition was published in 1830 by Oliver Boyd in Edinburgh and Simpkin & Marshall in London, and the copy here from 1831 is the first American edition. Both books measure 6 1/4 x 4 in. wide, with tight bindings; the first book has wear on the spine and along the edges of the spines, white spots on the front and back end-papers, brown spots on the engravings, brown spots and wear on the chart in front, especially along the vertical folds of the chart, there's offset on the regular title page from the chart, and faint brown spots on some of the text pages. The second book is much cleaner and the chart in much better condition than the chart in the first book, with brown spots on the vignette and regular title pages, occasional brown spots in the text, and both books still give an important view of whaling in the Arctic and along the Atlantic coast of Europe. #137 #1535