SHACKLETON, Ernest. South. The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition 1914–1917. (First edition)

London: William Heinemann, 1919. First edition, second impression. Royal octavo. pp. xv, [1], 376. Illustrated throughout with photographic plates, illustrations, and the large folding map at rear. Original dark blue cloth, upper cover and spine lettered in silver, upper cover with silver vignette of the Endurance. The original cloth is clean and bright with the silver decoration and lettering exceptionally well preserved. Internally clean, with light scattered foxing, principally to the preliminary and terminal leaves, as commonly encountered. Complete with the large folding map in excellent condition, free from tears or repairs. Contemporary gift inscription to the front free endpaper, dated March 1920,  Two contemporary booksellers’ stamps appear on the front pastedown. A handsome and well-preserved early impression of one of the essential classics of polar exploration. An excellent copy

One of the greatest narratives of endurance and leadership ever published, South is Sir Ernest Shackleton’s own account of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. Conceived as the first land crossing of Antarctica, the expedition became an extraordinary struggle for survival after the Endurance was trapped and ultimately crushed by pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Shackleton’s subsequent open-boat voyage of over 800 miles in the tiny James Caird to South Georgia, followed by the successful rescue of every member of his expedition, secured his place among history’s greatest explorers. Richly illustrated from Frank Hurley’s remarkable photographs and complete with the large folding map tracing the expedition’s route, South remains the definitive contemporary account of one of the most celebrated episodes in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

[WR Exploration]