Being An Account Of The British Antarctic Expedition 1898-1900
A CLASSIC OF ANTARCTIC WRITING
First on the Antarctic Continent Being An Account Of The British Antarctic Expedition 1898-1900
George Newnes, 1901.
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's navy pictorial cloth, lettered and decorated in silver and gilt. Publisher's catalogue dated January 1901 bound to rear. Frontispiece portrait of Borchgrevink, three folding maps to rear and reproductions of 196 black and white photographs from the expedition and one chart in the text. A very near fine copy, the cloth being exceptionally bright, with just very minor rubbing to the spine ends, and a barely perceptible splash to the upper cover.
Borchgrevink's expedition was funded by the publisher George Newnes, who contributed £40,000 to its preparation and later published this account of it. Clements Markham was one of a number who opposed Borchgrevink's venture, declaring the Norwegian explorer "incompetent, his ship rotten, and that no self-respecting member of the scientific community should have anything to do with him" (Howgego).
Nevertheless, Borchgrevink spent almost a year within the Antarctic Circle and can claim "a number of 'firsts': the first time dogs were used on the Antarctic continent, a furthest south record, the first sledge journey on the Ross Ice Shelf. Perhaps today he would be best remembered as having discovered the northward movement of the Ross Ice Shelf and the emperor penguin rookery at Cape Crozier" (Taurus).
A beautiful copy of a book Spence ranks as "one of the most important in the Antarctic bibliography".
Spence 45.
Stock ID: 39079
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