Little America: Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic - The Flight to the South Pole with 74 Illustrations and Maps

New York - London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1930. Stated first edition. Published, Autumn, 1930. Blue full-cloth (buckram) boards, gilt embossed cover and spine titles, design, slight shelf wear, sharp. Thick, deckled pages fine. Antiquarian signature at half-title page: "Chas. H. Woodruff, 12-25-30". Several fold-out maps and photo plates throughout. Pictorial endpapers. Crisp, dk. blue top edge. Bind fine, square; hinges intact. Admiral Byrd, 41 at time of this printing, details his latest exploration and flight over Antarctica. Here, in Little America, is the story of the Byrd Antarctic expedition told for the first time. Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd left the States on October 13, 1928, aboard the C.A. Larsen, headed for New Zealand. The Bolling, City of New York, and James Clark Ross ships, all loaded with the necessary planes, dogs, men and equipment, and had been dispatched previously. When all of the ships reached New Zealand, they condensed the load to only two ships, the Bolling and the City of New York. The expedition ultimately would reach the Ross Ice Shelf on December 28, 1928. Days of laborious unloading and building shelters followed the Expedition's arrival in Antarctica, resulting in a complete village that Byrd named "Little America." Aside from an administration building and bunk house, the complex included three radio antenna towers, a mess hall, hangars for the airplanes, storage sheds and a machine shop that contained the first generator of electricity in Antarctica. Includes detailed index. Set and Printed by The Knickerbocker Press. Made in the USA. 422 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.