SHACKLETON, Ernest H. (1874-1922). The Heart of the Antarctic, Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909. [With:] The Antarctic Book. Winter Quarters 1907-1909. London: William Heinemann, 1909.
3 volumes, 4to. Half-titles (limitation on verso in vol. I), 4 double-page plates, 6 etched plates by George Marston, and 18 mounted plates (including 16 in color after Marston), 1 panorama and 3 folding lithographic maps in pocket to rear of vol. II, numerous illustrations in the text. Vols. I and II in original vellum, upper covers gilt-stamped with penguin motif, spines lettered in gilt, top edges gilt, others uncut (some spotting to textblock fore-edges, front endsheets in vol. II a bit browned, else fine); Antarctic Book in original vellum-backed boards, spine lettered in gilt (very light wear at edges, foot slightly bumped, small spots of discrete restoration at folds to the two signature sheets). Provenance: The Antique Book Shop (Argentinian booksellers’ ticket).
FIRST EDITION, LIMITED ISSUE, number 104 of 300 copies, the corrected (second) state of the Antarctic Book SIGNED BY 16 MEMBERS OF THE SHORE PARTY INCLUDING SHACKLETON. A handsome copy of the “most luxurious publication ever to have appeared during the ‘heroic’ age of Antarctic exploration” (Taurus). “The British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-09, which sailed from Lyttleton, New Zealand, aboard Nimrod on January 1, 1908, is best known for having reached within ninety-seven miles of the South Pole (almost four years before Amundsen and Scott achieved the Pole itself), and not least for the first book printed in Antarctica, Aurora Australis” (Books on Ice 7.4). Renard 1444; Rosove 305.A2; Spence 1096; Taurus 57.