South. by SHACKLETON, Ernest H - 1919: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917.

London: William Heinemann,, 1919. You look aslant at the lone trail, and the lone trail lures you on First edition, first impression. "The failure of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition to even reach the Antarctic continent, much less to cross it via the South Pole, has become the great polar success story of the twentieth century" (Books on Ice). Shackleton embarked in 1914 on the Endurance to make the first traverse of the Antarctic continent; a journey of some 1,800 miles from sea to sea. But 1915 turned into an unusually icy year in Antarctica. After being trapped in the ice and drifting for nine months, the Endurance was eventually crushed by ice on October 27. "Shackleton now showed his supreme qualities of leadership. With five companions he made a voyage of 800 miles in a 22-foot boat through some of the stormiest seas in the world, crossed the unknown lofty interior of South Georgia, and reached a Norwegian whaling station on the north coast. After three attempts... Shackleton succeeded (30 August 1916) in rescuing the rest of the Endurance party and bringing them to South America" (ODNB). Amazingly, all members of the Endurance party survived the ordeal, attributing their survival to Shackleton's exceptional leadership qualities. In recent years, this factor has led to the re-interpretation of the book in terms of a leadership and man-management manual, and several influential attempts have been made to distil from the narrative the underlying principles of Shackleton's command in order that they might be applied more widely. As Apsley Cherry-Garrard remarked in Worst Journey in the World: "For a joint scientific and geographical piece of organization, give me Scott; for a Winter Journey, Wilson; for a dash to the Pole and nothing else, Amundsen; and if I am in the devil of a hole and want to get out of it, give me Shackleton every time". Shackleton's book, produced while the exigencies of the First World War were still a reality, is uncommonly encountered in collectible condition. The fine images captured by Australian Frank Hurley, particularly those made on a moonlit night, when he thought the ship was at its most beautiful, are well reproduced. Hurley's heroic feat in saving his original glass negatives is another fascinating chapter in an extraordinary story. Octavo (240 x 148 mm). Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in dark blue morocco, spine lettered and decorated in silver, single rule to boards in silver, pictorial block of the Endurance after the original cover in silver, twin rule to turn-ins in silver, burgundy endpapers, all edges silver. Colour frontispiece and 87 half-tone plates, folding map at end; errata slip pasted on p. 1. Pages toned, an excellent copy in a fine binding. Books on Ice 7.8; Conrad, p. 224; Spence 1107; Taurus 105.