SNOW, W. Parker. A Two Years' Cruise off Tierra Del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, Patagonia and in the River Plate. London: Longman et al., 1857. 2 vols., 8vo (195 x 117mm.) 4 chromolithographed plates only (of 6), 2 replacement colour plates, 3 engraved folding maps hand coloured in outline only (of 4), 1 replacement folding map. (Light browning and spotting, heavier to plates and maps, engraved folding map to vol. II torn with loss.) Original cloth blocked in blind, spines lettered in gilt (extremities bumped and scuffed, minor damp stains and soiling, rear endpapers to vol. II affected by damp). Spence 1141. Note: Snow was a 'colourful' explorer and writer. After experiencing a paranormal vision of the whereabouts of the missing expedition of John Franklin, was appointed civil officer by Lady Jane Franklin on board the Prince Albert in 1850. In 1854 Snow commanded the Allen Gardiner schooner on an expedition to the Falkland Islands commissioned by the Patagonian Missionary Society. Snow was discharged due to disagreements with the society's management resulting in an unsuccessful, and lengthy, legal battle for unfair dismissal; however, Snow correctly predicted the society's methods of operation would result in a massacre by the natives leading to later reconciliation with his former employer's successor. Provenance: The Michael Gilkes Collection.