SCOTT, Robert Falcon. Scott’s Last Expedition. The personal journals of Captain R.F. Scott. R.N., C.V.O., on his journey to the South Pole. With biographical introduction by Sir J.M. Barrie, and a preface by Sir Clements R. Markham.

London: John Murray, 1923. Crown octavo. pp. xxviii, 519. Pictorial cloth, titled in gilt. Map on endpapers. Cloth a little worn. A good copy.

The British Antarctic Expedition set sail from Cardiff on 15 June 1910 under the command of Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN (Royal Navy). The stated aims were to increase scientific knowledge of the polar region, and to be the first to reach the South Pole. Scott and his party of four men reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that a Norwegian team, led by Roald Amundsen, had arrived there almost a month before.
All five men in the British party died on their journey back to the base camp. Their bodies were discovered on 12 November 1912, along with letters and diaries which provided details of their journey.
Following the news of his death on the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition, Scott became a celebrated hero, a status reflected by memorials erected across the UK. However, in the last decades of the 20th century, questions were raised about his competence and character. Commentators in the 21st century have regarded Scott more positively after assessing the temperature drop below −40 °C (−40 °F) in March 1912, and after re-discovering Scott's written orders of October 1911, in which he had instructed the dog teams to meet and assist him on the return trip.

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