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SHACKLETON, Ernest (1874-1922). South. The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917. London: William Heinemann, 1919, Royal octavo, [ii], xxii, 376 pages with 6 sketch maps (one full-page) with colour frontispiece by Frank Hurley with a captioned tissue-guard, a double-page panorama of South Georgia and 86 full-page plates, a large fold-out color map and publisher's tipped-in errata slip. Original silver-pictorial dark blue cloth with bright silver foil image of the. “Endurance" on front cover, bookseller's ticket on fp., sliver lettering on spine; publisher's acidic paper and to a lesser extent, the outer margins of the plates tanned and common with this first impression. Recased, short professionally closed tear to the map near the stub, hinges professionally repaired. A near fine copy of a very scarce first printing of this important narrative, better than usually seen. FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Rosove 308.A.1. The captivating narrative 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.