THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC: Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909.

First edition, first printing. Two volumes. Publisher's original blue cloth with titles and illustration in silver to the upper board and titles in gilt to the spine, in original dustwrappers. Top edges gilt, the others untrimmed. Illustrated with a photogravure frontispiece to each volume; 12 colour plates after paintings by George Marston, all with captioned tissue guards; four double-page photographic plates, 271 photographic illustrations on 195 plates; diagrams, maps, plans and graphs in the text, including nine full-page. Also three folding maps and one folding plate containing two panoramic views in end-pocket of vol. II. A near fine set, the bindings square, firm and bright with a hint of fading to the very tips of the spine and board edges. The contents, with a touch of tanning to the endpapers, are otherwise remarkably clean and fresh throughout and remain free from inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the very near fine dustwrappers which have some minor wear to the extremities, volume one with a small nick to the foot of the spine panel. A superb set, rare thus.

The first trade edition of Shackleton's account of the 'Nimrod' expedition, which he led to the Antarctic in 1907-9. The expedition set a record for the farthest southward reach, making it to the magnetic pole. It also undertook the first ascent of Mount Erebus, discovered the Beardmore Glacier passage (named after Shackleton's patron), and was the first to cross the Trans-Antarctic mountain range, as well as to set foot on the South Polar Plateau. Owing to a lack of rations, the expedition did not ultimately make it to the pole itself, although did come within 100 nautical miles; as Shackleton famously later remarked to his wife: "Better a live donkey than a dead lion". It would be three more years before Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first to actually reach the South Pole, followed shortly by Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition. Following the Nimrod expedition, Shackleton returned to Britain a hero, and was knighted for reaching the furthest south of any person to date. An indication of the esteem in which he was held by both colleagues and the public alike is demonstrated by the assertion of Raymond Priestly, the Nimrod expedition's geologist: "For scientific leadership, give me Scott, for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen. But when you are in a hopeless situation, when you are seeing no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton". An outstanding set of one of the greatest literary embodiments of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.