SHACKLETON, E.H. The Heart of the Antarctic. Being the story of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909.

Illustrations with photogravure frontispieces, plates, some colour, folding panorama and three folding maps. Two volumes. London: Heinemann, 1909. First trade edition. Super royal octavo. pp. (1) xlviii, 372, (2) xvi, 419, + errata. Original blue cloth lettered and decorated in silver. Spines evenly faded, previous owner's signature on front endpaper. A very good set.

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE (1874-1922) polar explorer, was  one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. His first experience of the Polar regions was as third officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery Expedition, 1901-04, from which he was sent home early on health grounds. Determined to make amends for this perceived personal failure, he returned to Antarctica in 1907 as leader of the Nimrod Expedition. In January 1909 he and three companions made a southern march which established a record Farthest South latitude at 88° 23′ S, 97 geographical miles (114 statute miles, 190 km) from the South Pole, by far the closest convergence in exploration history up to that time. For this achievement, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home.

This first trade edition was issued in the same year as the deluxe edition, and produced from the same typeset.