Discover some of the great archival treasures of the Royal Geographical Society.

Some of the greatest expeditions are described and complimented with maps, photographs and illustrations by official artists, photographers, and members of the expedition teams. The book also includes the first travellers, who set off with sketchbook or camera, as well as diplomats who chose to explore the wider regions into which they were posted. These men and women provided Westerners with the first images of Northern Arabia, China and Nepal, and South America. They record the attempts to summit the world's highest mountain and reach the polar extremes.

For anyone with a love of adventure, this book is an informative journey and a visual delight.

Discover some of the great archival treasures of the Royal Geographical Society. Some of the greatest expeditions are described and complimented with maps, photographs and illustrations by members of the expedition teams.

Beau Riffenburgh is an author and historian specialising in polar exploration. He has served as editor of Polar Record, as the head of the Polar History Group at the Scott Polar Research Institute and as a lecturer in the history faculty of the University of Cambridge. He has written several books on exploration including The Myth of the Explorer and Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition: The Voyage of the Nimrod. For Andre Deutsch he wrote The Royal Geographical Society Exploration Experience and The Titanic Experience (2008).