The Heart of the Antarctic. Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909. With an Introduction by Hugh Robert Mill. An Account of the First Journey to the South Magnetic Pole by Professor T.W. Edgeworth. Two Volumes. London: W. Heinemann, 1909. First Edition. Pp, (1) xlvii, 371; (2) xv 418. Publisher’s original navy cloth, titles and illustrations embossed in silver to upper covers, with titles in gilt to spines. Light shelf-wear & fading to covers, overall a very good set.

With two gravure frontispieces with captioned guards, 12 colour plates with captioned guards, 257 other plates, 49 diagrams and illustrations in text, 2 panoramas on folding sheet and 3 folding maps bound-in at rear of volume two.

Ernest Henry Shackleton’s account of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-9 (Nimrod). ‘Their sledge journey to the south magnetic pole was one of the three foremost achievements of this expedition. The other two achievements were, first, the ascent and survey of Mount Erebus (12,448 feet), the active volcano on Ross Island and, second, the southern sledge journey, which reached within 100 miles of the south pole’ (ODNB). The expedition established Shackleton as a ‘bona fide English hero,’ but the success of the book did little to alleviate ‘the financial problems left to him by the expedition’ (Books on Ice).

Sir Raymond Priestley (1886-1974), a British Geologist and Antarctic explorer who accompanied Shackleton on the 1907-1913 Antarctic expeditions, said, ‘For scientific leadership, give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems to be no way out, get on your knees and pray for Shackleton.’