The Explorer's Eye: First-hand Accounts of Adventure and Exploration [Hardcover]

'We're all hooked on heroes...and here's a magnificent book packed with more than 50 of them, carrying first hand accounts and original pictures from the bravest of the brave, capturing the golden moments of adventure - triumphant, dramatic, perilous and tragic...Quite wonderful.' (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS (20.8.05) )

'The Explorer's Eye is the story of exploration through the protagonists' illustrations as well as words, and the pleasure of it is that these match the text in their ingenuity and originality...This is an absorbing, stirriing and altogether welcome addition to my overcrowded shelves of traveller's tales. I recommend every armchair traveller (and any one else in need of inspiration) to find space for their own copy.' (Benedict Allen INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY (25.9.05) )

'A gripping collection of diary entries, photographs and sketches of 50 explorers.' (WANDERLUST (October 2005) )

'an enchanting read...gripping reading.' (Sara Wheeler GUARDIAN (15.10.05) )

'In the great age of exploration, many of the scientists, sailors and adventures who roamed the world chronicled their thoughts and feelings, creating a vivid portrait of the unknown. This anthology offers 50 such personal accounts, from the likes of David Livingstone, Captain Cook and Ernest Shackleton, illustrated with period images.' (TRAVELLER (Sept/Oct 2005) )

'[a] gripping first hand testimony...wonderfully exciting and yet enjoyably un-portentous.' (Michael Kerrigan SCOTSMAN (17.12.05) )

'An immensely readable selection of eyewitness accounts of 54 journeys into the unknown. Superb illustrations accompany this exhilarating, chronologically organised collection.' (GOOD BOOK GUIDE (January 2006) )

'crisply designed, superbly illustrated and utterly absorbing...a true treasure trove.' (WARSHIP INTERNATIONAL FLEET REVIEW (January 2006) )

'If you buy just one book on exploration, this should be it.' (SUNDAY BUSINESS POST (18.12.05) )

'an enchanting read...gripping reading.'

'[a] gripping first hand testimony...wonderfully exciting and yet enjoyably un-portentous.'

'crisply designed, superbly illustrated and utterly absorbing...a true treasure trove.'

'We're all hooked on heroes...and here's a magnificent book packed with more than 50 of them, carrying first hand accounts and original pictures from the bravest of the brave, capturing the golden moments of adventure - triumphant, dramatic, perilous and tragic...Quite wonderful.'

'The Explorer's Eye is the story of exploration through the protagonists' illustrations as well as words, and the pleasure of it is that these match the text in their ingenuity and originality...This is an absorbing, stirriing and altogether welcome addition to my overcrowded shelves of traveller's tales. I recommend every armchair traveller (and any one else in need of inspiration) to find space for their own copy.'

'In the great age of exploration, many of the scientists, sailors and adventures who roamed the world chronicled their thoughts and feelings, creating a vivid portrait of the unknown. This anthology offers 50 such personal accounts, from the likes of David Livingstone, Captain Cook and Ernest Shackleton, illustrated with period images.'

'An immensely readable selection of eyewitness accounts of 54 journeys into the unknown. Superb illustrations accompany this exhilarating, chronologically organised collection.'

'If you buy just one book on exploration, this should be it.'

In the 18th century, exploration entered a new dimension - explorers were motivated by scientific inquiry rather than greed. To this end they were expected to make a full record of everything they encountered; and for the first time in history, that record was to include pictures as well as words. Combining gripping first-hand accounts with original images, THE EXPLORER'S EYE gives an insight into who these people were and what they saw. They were a mixed bunch but, whatever their training or background, they provided a vivid portrait of the unknown. In the early days they drew their own pictures, later they were equipped with draughtsmen, later still they carried cameras, and ultimately they were accompanied by film crews. The power of their images is matched by that of their journals. Here you have Alexander von Humboldt braving the electric eels of South America, Robert Peary explaining his relationships with Eskimos, Jacques Cousteau examining the planet from under the waves and Neil Armstrong doing the same from outer space.

FERGUS FLEMING is one of Britain's leading popular historians and the author of five critically acclaimed histories of exploration. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and lives in Gloucestershire and London. ANNABEL MERULLO is a publisher and editor specialising in illustrated books. She is the co-creator of the internationally successful series of CENTURY books. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, she is currently involved in the creation of an arts festival. Annabel Merullo is a publisher and editor specialising in illustrated books. She is the co-creator of the internationally successful series of CENTURY books. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, she is currently involved in the creation of an arts festival.