The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition 1914-1917

By Sir Ernest Shackleton, C.V.O.

London: Heinemann, 1919. First Edition, First Impression. 8vo., [xxi], 358 pp., colour frontispiece, 5 maps (1 folding), 87 photographic plates (1 double-page) by Frank Hurley, 2 sketch plans in text, usual brown toning to paper owing to poor paper stock, publisher’s original blue-black cloth lettered and decorated in silver. Internal hinges professionally reinforced, renewed end leaves. Unusually bright silver image of the “Endurance” and title lettering on front cover and bright silver title lettering on spine. In Near Fine condition. —Taurus 105; Conrad p224; Rosove 308.A1.

The amazing story of Ernest Shackleton’s famous Endurance Expedition, and probably the most evocative narrative of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, telling of the survival of Shackleton and his crew under the most extreme circumstances. “I think that though failure in the actual accomplishment must be recorded, there are chapters in this book of high adventure, strenuous days, lonely nights, unique experiences, and above all, records of unflinching determination, supreme loyalty, and generous self-sacrifice on the part of my men which, even in these days that have witnessed the sacrifices of nations and regardless of self on the part of individuals, still will be of interest to readers who now turn gladly from the red horror of war and the strain of the last five years to read, perhaps with more understanding minds, the tale of the White Warfare of the South. The struggles, the disappointments, and the endurance of this small party of British, hidden away for nearly two years in the fastnesses of the Polar ice, striving to carry out the ordained task and ignorant of the crises through which the world was passing, make a story which is unique in the history of Antarctic exploration.” —Ernest Shackleton – paraphrased.

Provenance:
This unique copy of the First Printing intermittently bears the discrete oval stamp indicating this copy was once owned by Lloyd’s Registry. “Like the famous international insurance market, Lloyd’s of London, Lloyd’s Register owes its name and foundation to the 17th century coffee house in London frequented by merchants, marine underwriters, and others, all associated with shipping. The coffeehouse owner, Edward Lloyd, helped them to exchange information by circulating a printed sheet of all the news he heard. In 1760, the Register Society was formed by the customers of the coffee house who assembled the Register of Shipping, the first known register of its type.” — Wikepedia

$2400.00 - S O L D