SOUTH: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917.

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original dark blue cloth with titles in silver gilt to the upper board and spine and an illustration of The Endurance in silver gilt to the upper board. Illustrated with a tissue guarded and captioned colour frontispiece after a photograph by Frank Hurley, 87 half-tone photographic plates, in-text maps, and a large folding map at the rear. A very good copy, the binding square, firm and bright with a little rubbing and bumping to the spine tips and the odd minor mark to the boards. The closed top edge is a little dusty and marked. The contents, browned (as is usual, due to the inferior paper stock used in the first printing), with and pencilled previous owner's name and date 'Xmas 1919' above the publisher's errata slip tipped in to the front endpaper, a short closed tear to the top edge of the second blank endpaper, and a 4cm closed tear to the inner margin of the folding map (not affecting the map itself), are otherwise in good, sound order. An attractive example, much better than is usually encountered, and importantly, without repair or restoration.

Shackleton's classic account of the Endurance expedition - the most inspiring voyage of the Heroic period of Antarctic exploration. Shackleton's party had hoped to cross the continent via the South Pole, although ran into problems from the outset, culminating in their being trapped and then crushed in the ice, loosing the Endurance to the Weddell Sea. After enduring months in the ice, the party made the perilous journey to the inhospitable Elephant Island, followed by an 800 mile open boat journey to South Georgia in order to secure rescue. Shackleton's incredible leadership ensured, miraculously, that every single member of the crew survived, and his subsequent account helped to make the expedition the stuff of legend.