South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917

New York: Macmillan , 1920. First American Edition. 8vo, original green cloth lettered in gilt, illustrated with numerous photo plates and maps, color frontispiece, xi, 380 pp. Light rubbing to corners, top hinge a little weak, but still firm, spine slighly frayed, faint vertical crease to spine, ink name and address to front pastedown, normal aging; a very good copy. This copy is the first American edition, published a year after the very rare first English edition. Almost from the start, Shackleton's last expedition was beset with challenges. The outbreak of WWI, and the loss of financial help made for a very interesting start. To raise the money, Shackleton approached the usual suspects, including the British Government and the Royal Geographical Society, but most of the public schools in England and Scotland contributed too. Since Amundsen had already conquered the South Pole, Shackleton felt an expedition that would cross the 1800 mile Antarctic continent would have great historical and scientific value. So, in October 1914, Shackleton and his crew set out on the Endurance. Unfortunately, it proved to be a very tough winter, and the Endurance ended up being crushed by the ice. He and his crew were standed on Elephant Island. Along the way their captain fell through the ice, some of the crew were stalked by killer whales, and supplies started to run out. Shackleton decided to get help by taking a small boat across 800 miles of treacherous seas to South Georgia. Despite a very dangerous voyage, Shackleton succeeded, and all his men were rescued. The book contains some very interesting photographs of this incredible journey.