(POLAR EXPLORATION).
In The Arctic by Ivan Papanin [translated from the Russian]. 珍本
Dalian: Da Zhong Bookstore, 13 April 1946.
Ten woodcuts by Chinese artists.   Small 8vo, [iv]44pp; printed paper wrappers with two-color image on upper cover showing an old-style airplane with four scientists, three different library stamps (from 1947 onwards), also accession numbers and fold-over slip at lower spine.
Development of Russia’s vast Arctic territory was a central goal of Joseph Stalin during the 1930s, which resulted in Papanin’s establishing the existence of an ice flow just a short distance from the North Pole. Based upon the author’s 1938 account of a 9-month expedition which demonstrated warm water currents at the Pole originating in the Atlantic and entering the Arctic Ocean between Greenland and Spitsbergen. It also allowed for the first transpolar flight and the establishment of an ice station using the Northern Sea route. OCLC records two later versions of this title (1949, 1957) but not our printing.