NATURAE OBSERVATIO

SPITSBERGEN - Science Expeditions

PRE-ORDER PRICE €175.00

[After the book has been published €225.00]

In 1758, on a cold summer day along the rugged west coast of Spitsbergen, where the Arctic Sea meets a lowland flanked by mountains, a group of sailors, hunters, and a naturalist from the whaling ship de Visser disembarked to gather eggs and down.

In this group, 28-year-old Anton Rolandsson Martin participated in carrying out scientific observations in the Arctic landscape at sea and on land. He was one of the so-called Linnaeus Apostles, who, on behalf of the naturalist Carl Linnaeus and various scientific associations, documented natural and cultural history around the world for a period of 50 years.

At The IK Foundation, we have always been very interested in the often sacrificing work of the apostles, which laid the foundation for many of Europe's museums and scientific collections. Since the 1990s, IK has been involved in many long-term projects related to the world of the Linnaeus Apostles, including the global publication of their journals, but also renewed projects that lift their knowledge into the world of today and the future.

Between 2016 and 2020, The IK Foundation and many other organisations carried out six field periods along the route described by Anton Rolandsson Martin in his Spitsbergen Journal. A task that we call THE BRIDGE BUILDER EXPEDITIONS – which is briefly a bridge building linked to the natural sciences via a wide range of subjects, individuals and organisations – not least between the past, present and possibly future. This project was concentrated where Rolandsson Martin went ashore in July 1758, along the western coastline of Prince Charles Foreland, now Prins Karls Forland.

For 12 months, an autonomous field station – the first of its kind in the world – was established under the name FIELD STATION | NATURAE OBSERVATIO | MARTIN’S EYE. The total work of the station resulted in 2,074,053 observations being carried out over the landscape visited by Rolandsson Martin 260 years earlier!

These are our stepping stones for the book – a work started by the then 28-year-old Rolandsson Martin, followed up by our projects, to which we will invite you as a reader to experience a place, a biosphere, a landscape history seen in a 360 degrees long term view! Of course, the book will cover more than the nature and culture of the area described above, but we start and focus on this area – an Arctic place with a fascinating story that also leads us to the rest of the extensive Arctic area.

This publication is crafted with care. It features 250 uniquely numbered and hand-bound copies that showcase the latest scientific insights and information. It is a beautifully designed book with in-depth details across text sections, maps, diagrams, pictures, artworks, timelines, and many intriguing large fold-outs. More than just a book, it is a unique mastery portfolio that inspires generations to appreciate a delicate and still wild part of our Planet Earth.

Please find further information about the content and the co-writers below. This publication is probably the most comprehensive scientific work on this subject.