Shackleton’s great dismay, the party had to return. They had reached 88° 23’S, 162 East, a new record, and only 100 miles from the south pole. During the return journey, the men were emaciated, and Marshall grew ill with dysentery. Shackleton and Wild left Marshall and Adams and set out to Hut Point for help. They returned a week later, and in early March all of the expedition members were back on the Nimrod for the return voyage to England. It is remarkable that all the members of the party survived the ordeal, their survival attributed to Shackleton’s exceptional leadership qualities. The British Antarctic Expedition undoubtedly established Shackleton as “a bona-fide English hero” ( Books on Ice ). The general map shows the accomplishments of David, Mawson, Marshall, Mackay, Adams, and Brocklehurst who made a gruelling ascent of Mount Erebus, Antarctica’s second highest volcano, in March 1908. The group was inadequately provisioned and equipped but nevertheless successfully made it to the rim of the crater, from where Mawson measured the depth and Marshall determined the altitude. The map, “Route and Surveys of the Southern Journey Party 1908–09”, records “Shackleton’s finest hours [where] he displayed an uncanny judgment in aborting his attempt to reach the South Pole” (Clancy, p. 156). Although Marshall had been in charge of determining their position and mapping the lands through which they travelled, “the observations were checked not only by the members of the Southern Party but by A. E. Reeves, the Geographical Society’s map curator and navigational expert. Reeves re-computed the latitudes using the most up-to-date refraction tables and found that none of the results differed from those obtained by Shackleton’s party by more than a minute and that the farthest south observation was within a few seconds” (Riffenburgh, p. 293). Indeed, the three maps were definitive for their day and continue to command respect for the quality of the data collected under such extreme conditions. They stand as a testament to the accomplishments of one of the greatest heroes of the heroic age of Antarctic Exploration. Three colour printed maps. “General Map”: 443 × 447 mm; “Southern Journey Party”: 660 × 395 mm; “South Magnetic Polar Party”: 532 × 392 mm. A few small marginal tears to “Southern Journey Party”, no fold lines, else exceptional copies, rarely seen in such clean and bright condition. ¶ Books on Ice 7.4.; Howgego S20. Robert Clancy, John Manning, & Henk Brolsma, Mapping Antarctica: A Five Hundred Year Record of Discovery , 2013; Beau Riffenburgh, Shackleton’s Forgotten Expedition: The Voyage of the Nimrod , 2008. £5,000 [158868]
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highly uncommon maps, the finest and most detailed available at the time. The maps originally appeared in the Geographical Journal in 1909, but part of the print- run of each was retained by the Royal Geographical Society for stand-alone sale and are therefore without fold lines and remain in exceptional condition. These three superbly produced maps outline the main achievements of Shackleton’s expedition. In September 1908 David, MacKay, and Mawson set out for the magnetic pole. The group was weighed down by two sledges carrying heavy equipment and provisions, that were man-hauled in relay. Both David and Mawson fell into a crevasse on the journey out, and only narrowly escaped death. They reached the magnetic pole in January 1909, calculating their position as 72° 25’S / 155°16’E. A later analysis suggested that the group did not in fact reach the pole, because Mawson’s instruments were not up to the task; however, since the magnetic pole has no fixed position and has wandered since 1909, Howgego argues that “such a discussion is entirely academic”. In October 1908, Shackleton, Adams, Marshall, and Wild set out on their trek to the pole with four pony-drawn sledges. They passed Scott’s farthest south in November, which was celebrated with two tablespoons of Curaçao for each member. Weather conditions quickly worsened and in January 1909, to
likely one of the complete runs offered in 1944. A further 30 supplementary zoological reports were published in five volumes between 1923 and 1959. Quarto, 59 parts bound in 7 volumes. Original printed paper volume wrappers, edges uncut. Complete with all plates and maps. Bound without individual wrappers. Minor judicious repairs and toning of wrappers, largely unopened. A very good set, remarkably well-preserved. ¶ Books in Ice 6.5; Howgego N32; Rosove 241; Spence 860. £9,750 [159841] 130 POLAR – SHACKLETON, Ernest H. Three Maps. General map showing the explorations and surveys of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09; Route and surveys of the Southern Journey Party 1908–09; Route and surveys of the South Magnetic Polar Party 1908–09. London: The Royal Geographical Society, 1909 “shackleton’s name will always be written in the annals of antarctic exploration in letters of fire” A genuinely rare opportunity to acquire this set of
Nordenskjöld’s goal was primarily scientific inquiry as opposed to commercial exploitation. “The scientific work of the Swedish expedition was prodigious. In terms of quality and scope, contributions were comparable to those made on the contemporary expeditions of Gerlache, Scott, Drygalski, Charcot, and Bruce, despite the loss of collections aboard the Antarctic when the ship was wrecked on the ice. The scientists elucidated the geography of the region of the Antarctic Peninsula on both the west and east sides; they discovered shells and fossil plant and animal species on Snow Hill, Seymour, and Cockburn Island that both to a verdant past millions of years before and also to a time when the polar ice sheet was considerably thicker” (Rosove). The discoveries of the expedition were mainly around the Antarctic Peninsular and included fossil evidence of a former tropical climate, an extinct volcano on Paulet Island, and an extinct whale fossil. The scientific reports, monumental in scope, were published in 59 parts, 44 in German, 11 in English, and 4 in French. According to Rosove, the complete set of reports, “4,032 pages with 263 illustrations in the text, 303 pictures, and 25 maps was offered in 1944, 24 years after the publication of the last part” (Rosove). As this set is bound without the part wrappers it is
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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