“BRINGS OUT THE MORE HUMAN SIDE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION”: COMPLETE LIMITED EDITION OF THE SOUTH POLAR TIMES, THE CREW NEWSPAPER FROM SCOTT’S ANTARCTIC EXPEDITIONS

SHACKLETON, Ernest H. (editor, Volume I); BERNACCHI, Louis C. (editor, Volume II); CHERRY-GARRARD, Apsley (editor, Volume III). The South Polar Times. London: Smith, Elder, 1907, 1914. Three volumes. Large quarto, original navy cloth with mounted pictorial labels, all edges gilt. $22,500.

Extremely scarce and sought-after first collected edition of the complete run of The South Polar Times produced during Scott’s two expeditions (Discovery, 1902-03; Terra Nova, 1911), richly illustrated, often in color. Volumes I and II each number 126 of only 250 copies and Volume III number 118 of only 350 copies. A beautiful copy.

"An exact reproduction of the original 'South Polar Times' which appeared during the winters of 1902-03 [and 1911], produced as they were for the sole edification of [Scott's] small company of explorers in the Discovery [and the Terra Nova] then held fast in the Antarctic ice" (Preface, Volume I). In his diary, Dr. Edward Wilson noted, "the paper brings out the more human side of the members of the expedition, and leaves the Narrative and Scientific Reports to do the rest" (Rosove 287). This "lithographed facsimile of typescripts produced by members of Scott's party during three bleak Antarctic winters spent in his company" (Taurus 42) includes reproductions of Wilson's delicate paintings, Herbert G. Ponting's dramatic photographs, and the various whimsies and literary productions of the men trapped for many long months during the sunless Antarctic winters. Scott himself provided a lengthy account of his journey south in the 22 June 1903 issue (Volume II). Wilson was considered "perhaps the best artist to work in Antarctica" (Fitzgerald 670). Wilson's "the Barrier Silence," which appears in Volume III, is "a deep introspection on the private experience of sledging in severe cold, during which man and the barrier ice become united as one. The poem, written just before the commencement of the southern journey, is an eerie foreshadowing of Wilson's death and entombment in that same ice" (Rosove 291). Contains "much topical information not otherwise obtainable" (Conrad, 121). The original typescripts are unobtainable; the full three-volume set is extremely difficult to find complete, given the publication hiatus between the second and third volumes. Without very scarce original dust jackets. Fitzgerald 670. Stam & Stam 7.7. Taurus 42, 79. Rosove 287, 291. Conrad, 121.

Foxing to endpapers of all three volumes, scattered light foxing to Volume III, plates fine. A few light rubs to cloth, gilt and pictorial labels bright. An exceptional near-fine copy, rarely seen in this condition.