TANIGUCHI, Zenya (1916-2011) and Yoshimasa KIMURA (1913-1998). Shirase Chui Tanken-ki [in English: Account of Shirase’s Expedition to the South Pole]. Tokyo: Daichisha, June 1942.
8vo (184 x 127 mm). 2 full-page maps, 4 photographic plates. Original pictorial boards printed in blue, red, grey and white; ORIGINAL DUST JACKET with matching illustrations as covers (spine sunned, light edgewear).
FIRST TRADE EDITION, SIGNED BY TANIGUCHI in English and in Kanji text on front free endpaper opposite of title-page. This pre-WWII second edition (first trade) of Nobu Shirase’s biography has similar text as the 1940 first edition, limited issue (see Ross 2.4.1). The maps are different, some images have been added, and the book has a smaller format and different covers.
Zenya Taniguchi and Yoshimasa Kimura became acquainted with Shirase when they were students at Takushoku University. After graduating from the University in 1933, Shirase, Taniguchi and Kimura established the Nippon Polar Research Institute. Shirase became the institute’s first president while he, Taniguchi and Kimura remained colleagues and lifelong friends. Nobu Shirase died in September 1946 at the age of 85, Zenya Taniguchi passed away in January 2011 at the age of 95, and Yoshimasa Kimura passed away in 1998 at the age of 85. Ross 2.4.2 (“Very Rare”); Taurus 76.