Letters from High Latitudes

Letters From High Latitudes is a travel book written by Lord Dufferin in 1856, recounting the young lord's journey to Iceland, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen in the schooner "Foam".

When Dufferin was only 15 his father died. In consequence he developed a very close relationship with his mother. In the course of the voyage Dufferin created a diary in the form of letters nominally written to his mother. On his return, Lord Dufferin used those letters to write a book about his travels entitled "Letters From High Latitudes".

Lord Dufferin commissioned the schooner "Foam" with the first objective of visiting Iceland. He visited the then-minuscule Reykjavík, the plains of Þingvellir, and Geysir. While he was at Geysir Napoleon III arrived with his entourage. Upon his return to Reykjavík Dufferin was invited to join Napoleon III aboard his royal steamer "La Reine Hortense". Napoleon III offered that the "Foam" be towed north as the French were on an expedition to the same region. The collier traveling with "La Reine Hortense" was damaged which required the French to abandon their investigations. Dufferin then set sail for Jan Mayen Island where he had to land by a boat. He wrote that he left a tin of trinkets on the island. From Jan Mayen, the "Foam" sailed to northern Norway, stopping at Hammerfest, before sailing for Spitsbergen.

With its irreverent style, lively pace, and witty commentary, the book became extremely successful. It can be regarded as the prototype of the comic travelogue. It remained in print for many years with editions published in both the United Kingdom and the United States. A Canadian edition was published while he was Governor General of Canada. An abridged edition was published under the title "A Cruise in Northern Seas". Translations were made into both French and German.

Despite his book's great success Lord Dufferin did not pursue a career in writing. Instead, he became a diplomat, later serving as British ambassador to Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Subsequently he was appointed Governor General of Canada and after that term became Viceroy of India.

"Frost On My Moustache" by Tim Moore is an account of a journey in which the author attempts to emulate Lord Dufferin's fearless spirit and enthusiastic adventuring, but comes to identify far more with Dufferin's permanently miserable butler, Wilson.

Publication History

Editions of "Letters from High Latitudes" include:
* John Murray, London, 1857 (1st edition half-leather)
* John Murray, London, 1857 (2nd edition)
* John Murray, London, 1857 (3rd edition)
* John Murray, London, 1858 (4th edition)
* Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1859 (1st edition)
* R. Worthington, New York, 1878 (3rd edition)
* Adam, Stevenson & Co., Toronto, 1872
* John Murray, London, 1873 (6th edition) (1st Canadian edition)
* Lovell, Adam, Wesson. & Company, New York, 1873
* Lovell, Adam, Wesson & Company, New York, (nd (188?) edition contains a Preface to the Third edition, as well as preface to Canadian edition)
* R. Worthington, New York,1882
* John Murray, London, 1883 (7th edition)
* John Murray, London, 1887 (8th edition)
* John Murray, London, 1891 (9th edition)
* Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1891
* Wm. L. Allison Company, New York, 1895
* John Murray, London, 1895 (10th edition)
* John Murray, London, 1902 (11th edition)
* John Murray, London, 1903 (Canadian edition)
* J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., London, 1910
* John Murray, London, 1913 (Canadian edition; reprint)
* Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1924. Introduction by R.W. Macan
* Dent, London, 1925. Everyman's Library Volume 399
* Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1934 (The World's Classics)
* J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London, 1940
* The Merlin Press, London. 1989 (paperback reprint of Canadian edition)
* Seafarer Books, 1991 (paperback facsimile of 1856 edition)
* Kessinger Publishing, 2004 (paperback)
* Lightning Source Inc, 2006

Edition of "A Cruise in Northern Seas"
* Henry Frowde, London 1920

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3701 Online version] available from Project Gutenberg.