The Endurance; Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. Near Fine in Near Fine dust-jacket First Edition, 1st Printing. [9.25x8.25in]; 211 pp., frontispiece of Endurance trapped in ice and heeled over, many images from Frank Hurley of the 150 that were saved with the rescue; Black cloth covers with silver lettering on spine, all edges trimmed; Speckled brown dust jacket with black and white lettering on front and spine, image of Endurance beset in the ice on front; Negligible shelf wear, Michael Rosove bookplate on front pastedown. [Rosove 6.A1]. Item #14317
Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) lead the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition in 1914-1917. It was a complex plan that involved landing the Polar party on the Weddell sea ice shelf to travel an unknown route to the South Pole. A second team was landed to lay supply depots on the Ross Ice Shelf for over 400 miles to the Beardmore Glacier. These depots were to supply Shackleton's northern journey from the South Pole to the Ross Sea.
The expedition did not achieve the objectives as the Endurance was beset and crushed in the ice covered Weddell Sea before reaching the ice shelf. James Francis (Frank) Hurley (1885-1962) ) was the expedition's photographer. All but 150 plates of Hurley's still images and some pocket camera images survived the 9 month trek across the ice dragging overloaded lifeboats to reach open water and sail for desolate Elephant Is. to await an uncertain rescue. Hurley and all the other men survived the ordeal when rescued by Shackleton after his miraculous 800 mile sea voyage to the nearest whaling station on South Georgia Is. Hurley's images have become iconic images in telling the stories of the expedition.
From Rosove, "What makes this volume especially appealing is the comprehensive collection of Frank Hurley's photographs from Shackleton's Endurance expedition (1914-17), ...The illustrations are accompanied by Alexander's well-told recounting of the fabled expedition with material from unpublished primary sources... The book was first issued in connection with, and in advanced of, the exhibition "Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Expedition" that ran at the American Museum of Natural History in New York from March to October 1999 ..."
Michael Rosove is a long time California Antarctic books and ephemera collector. He is also the author of the bibliobgraphy, Antarctica, 1772-1922 Freestanding Publications through 1999, and several related books and numerous journal articles.
Price: $50.00