Fine Books & Manuscripts

DOORLY, Gerald Stokely (1880–1956). The Voyages of the ‘Morning’. London: John Murray, 1916. 8vo. Photographic frontispiece, numerous plates, folding map at rear. Publisher’s pictorial blue cloth stamped in yellow and black (spine sunned). Provenance: G. & N. Ingleton (bookplate and stamp); W. F. Young (ownership stamp); Hall’s Book Store (a Melbourne booksellers’ ticket); FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, bound with Smith & Elder sheets but with the title being a cancel and bearing the John Murray imprint which Rosove states as being “very scarce”. John Murray took over the publishing of this book after the death of publisher Reginald Smith in 1916. Rosove 96.A2; Taurus 142. –– [Together with:] The Songs of the “Morning”. Melbourne: Bread and Cheese Club, 1943. 8vo. Original printed wrappers.Doorly was third in command on board two voyages of the “Morning”, the relief ship for the Discovery expedition (1901–04). On their return, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle suggested to Doorly that he write a book on the Morning’s role in the expedition as Colbeck, the ship’s captain, did not write an account. This eyewitness report “records the discovery of Scott Island and the first landing on Beaufort Island, and personal impressions of the Southern party upon their return” and is not only a “very interesting, pleasant, and readable firsthand account but also one of the scarcest books on Antarctic exploration” (Rosove).