The Lodge Library

Without a doubt, one of the most inviting nooks within the overall compound at Seven Coves is the Lodge Library and adjoining reading rooms. This double story Art Deco Architectural masterpiece of a Library replete with built-in oak bookshelves and a custom wrought iron rail and oak ordained spiral staircase is further highlighted by a silver-and-gold-leaf domed ceiling which depicts a mural of Johannes Kepler’s “Laws of Planetary Motion.” The library is stocked with a vast collection of both popular reading materials and a rare book collection.

The Library itself cost more than $2.5 million dollars to bring to fruition and housed one of the greatest collections of historic archives and manuscripts covering worldwide adventures and exploration, a theme that Steve Fossett, as one of the greatest explorers and adventurist in the world was rightly passionate about.

Steve was a record-setting adventurer and explorer who at one time held hundreds of World records in numerous disciplines. He was friends with Richard Branson, whose Virgin Group sponsored a number of Fossett’s sailing and aviation attempts. This included the “ultimate flight” when in February 2006 Fossett flew the Virgin GlobalFlyer for the longest uninterrupted and unrefueled aircraft flight in history, covering 25,766 miles. He was the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation of the Earth in a hot air balloon. He broke records of speed and distance as a sailor and was one of the sport’s most prolific distance record holders. He participated in races across many disciplines, including the Iditarod, Ironman and Paris to Dakar Rally. He also swam the English Channel and climbed some of the highest mountains on Earth. Fossett was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the Explorers Club.

To further indulge his appetite for adventure and exploration Steve put endless hours into collecting and curating one of the world’s most significant libraries featuring the subject that mattered most to him…. and by all accounts was a well-informed collector and expert curator. His library shelves featured significant works in the fields of aeronautics, Arctic and Antarctic exploration, circumnavigation and mountaineering. There were important manuscripts and archives of some of the most notable figures in the field of exploration, including Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Drake, Alexander von Humboldt, Lewis and Clark, William Schouten and Ernest Shackleton. Highlights include a copy of Barthelemi Faujas de Saint-Fond’s Description des Experiences de la Machine Aerostatique de MM. de Montgolfier, which describes the first manned flight, and a copy of Aurora Australis, the first book printed in Antarctica by Shackleton and his team and a first collected edition of Sir Francis Drake’s voyages and a copy of the first edition of Leo Africanus’ A Geographical Historie of Africa. In summary, an extraordinary reading room and Library filled with extraordinary books by an extraordinary man.

As the new stewards of the Library, we have huge shoes to fill with respect to replacing Steve Fossett’s rare collection of books and manuscripts, but we are rapidly executing on refilling the Library shelves with not only rare and notable books, but also, more current popular reading materials that can be enjoyed by the few and fortunate special guest of Seven Coves.

Notable new acquisitions for the library include Sebastio’ Salgados’ world renowned opus, GENESIS, which was the the result of an epic eight-year expedition to rediscover the mountains, deserts and oceans, the animals and peoples that have so far escaped the imprint of modern society—the land and life of a still-pristine planet. “Some 46% of the planet is still as it was in the time of genesis,” Salgado reminds us. “We must preserve what exists.” The GENESIS project, along with the Salgados’ Instituto Terra, are dedicated to showing the beauty of our planet, reversing the damage done to it, and preserving it for the future.

Over 30 trips—traveled by foot, light aircraft, seagoing vessels, canoes, and even balloons, through extreme heat and cold and in sometimes dangerous conditions—Salgado created a collection of images showing us nature, animals, and indigenous peoples in breathtaking beauty. Mastering the monochrome with an extreme deftness to rival the virtuoso Ansel Adams, Salgado brings black-and-white photography to a new dimension; the tonal variations in his works, the contrasts of light and dark, recall the works of Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Georges de La Tour.

In the Library’s limited edition large format edition of GENESIS, one discovers the animal species and volcanoes of the Galápagos; penguins, sea lions, cormorants, and whales of the Antarctic and South Atlantic; Brazilian alligators and jaguars; African lions, leopards, and elephants; the isolated Zo’é tribe deep in the Amazon jungle; the Stone Age Korowai people of West Papua; nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan; Nenet nomads and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle; Mentawai jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra; the icebergs of the Antarctic; the volcanoes of Central Africa and the Kamchatka Peninsula; Saharan deserts; the Negro and Juruá rivers in the Amazon; the ravines of the Grand Canyon; the glaciers of Alaska... and beyond. Having dedicated so much time, energy, and passion to the making of this work, Salgado likens GENESIS to “my love letter to the planet.”

Please feel free to enjoy this and other new literary jewels in our comfortable and exquisite Library.