Special Centenary Edition signed with slipcase
Limited to only 150 copies

By D.M. Wilson and C.J.Wilson

Cheltenham: Reardon Press. 2004 Special Edition. Containing 500 paintings, drawings and illustrations by Edward Wilson. Publisher’s full green leather with silver foil titles on cover and spine. An excellent copy in Fine condition with publisher’s green cloth slipcase also in Fine condition. Signed and Limited to 150 copies, this being copy #46 of 150. A lovely publication.

Edward Wilson is remembered as the artist of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1912, commanded by Captain Robert Falcon Scott. The “Terra Nova” sailed via Madeira, South Trinidad, South Africa and Australia to New Zealand from where she set sail for the Antarctic on 24 January 1911. During the expedition, Wilson studied and drew biological specimens and composed finished watercolours. The expedition reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912 after a journey of nearly a year. On the return journey, the expedition hit unseasonably bad weather and Wilson died along with team members Scott and Bowers on 29 March. The specimens, diaries and sketchbooks were recovered by the search party the following spring.

After his death, Wilson’s wife Oriana, arranged the notebooks and distributed many of them amongst the family. Two books – the “Nature Notebooks” were given to his nephew, Michael Wilson, whose sons have edited this volume. It contains the bulk of Edward Wilson’s non-Antarctic work – from Notebooks and other sources – reproduced here in chronological order, showing his development as an artist. There is also a selection of quotations from the Notebook’s observations and annotations, in keeping with the scrapbook flavor of many of the pages. There is a short biography at the start of each chapter concentrating on Wilson’s scientific and artistic progress, and a selection of the Antarctic work so the reader can see the continuous artistic and scientific development.

$400.00 -