antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller
223.REEVES, Signaller L.C.
Australians in Action in New
Guinea. Photographs by Signaller
H. Ellis. With an Introduction by
Lieut.-Col. Paton.
Sydney, The Australasian News Company Ltd., 1915 [39327]
£500
8vo. Original pictorial buckram over stiff card wraps.
Frontispiece and 37 other plates. Free endpapers browned,
light marginal browning, overall very good the cloth just a
little rubbed.
FIRST EDITION. Attractive and uncommon. Probably the
first account of Australia’s first land action in the Great War:
“When the Australians took Rabaul in September 1914
they were pushing the border of Australian administered
territory north to the equator, and they were accepting
responsibility for governing another one million people,
a population greater than that then living in the entire
western half of the Australian continent” (Australian War
Memorial website).
224.SCOTT, Robert F.
The Voyage of the “Discovery”.
With 260 full-page and smaller
Illustrations by Dr. E. A. Wilson and
other Members of the Expedition…
London, Smith, Elder, & Co., 1905 [38986] £1000
2 volumes, large 8vo. Original dark blue fine-vertical-ribbed
cloth, spines lettered gilt, upper covers stamped with gilt
medallions in centre. Photogravure frontispiece to each and
twelve colour plates in all, five double-page panoramas and
numerous plates, folding maps in end-pockets. Some foxing,
as usual, binding slightly rubbed at the extremities, but overall
very good.
FIRST EDITION, a classic of its genre, Scott’s official
narrative of his first Antarctic expedition, 1901–1904,
the first scientific expedition to pass two consecutive
winters in a high latitude of Antarctica, during which
the first extensive land journeys into the interior of the
continent were accomplished. The ship’s officers included
Lieutenant Ernest Shackleton, and the civilian scientists
included Dr Edward Adrian Wilson, Scott’s close friend
and confidant on this and his last expedition. With 28
sledge journeys accomplished, the ice sheet explored, and
a comprehensive scientific programme completed, the
expedition was a triumph, although the failure of Scott’s
dogs was an ominous portent.
225.SCOTT, Robert F.
Scott’s Last Expedition. In
Two Volumes, Vol. I Being the
Journals…, Vol. II Being the Reports
of the Journeys and the Scientific
Work Undertaken by Dr. E. A.
Wilson and the Surviving Members
of the Expedition Arranged by
Leonard Huxley. With a Preface by
Sir Clements R. Markham. Arranged
by Leonard Huxley.
London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1913 [38985] £2000
2 volumes, 8vo. Publisher’s blue cloth, gilt title to spines
and front boards, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. With
photogravure frontispieces, 6 original sketches in photogravure
by Doctor E. A. Wilson, 18 coloured plates (16 from drawings
by Dr. Wilson), 260 full-page and smaller illustrations, from
photographs taken by Herbert G. Ponting and other members
of the expedition; panoramas and 8 folding maps. Light
browning and marginal foxing as usual, a very good clean set
in the publisher’s blue ribbed cloth, slightly rubbed, heads and
tails of spines a little crumpled.
FIRST EDITION. This copy with a one-page ALs from Scott,
dated 8 December 1909, thanking Mrs. Playfair for her
contribution to the expedition, loosely inserted.
PRESENTATION COPY
226.SHACKLETON, E. H.
The Heart of the Antarctic Being
the story of the British Antarctic
Expedition 1907–1909. With an
introduction by Hugh Robert Mill,
D.Sc. an account of the first
journey to the south magnetic pole
by Professor T. W. Edgeworth David,
F.R.S.
London, William Heinemann 1909 [35531] £5750
2 volumes, large 8vo. Original blue pictorial cloth, front covers
stamped in silver, spines lettered gilt, top edges gilt, others
uncut. 3 maps, panorama in rear pocket, 12 coloured and
257 black and white plates, and numerous illustrations and
diagrams. Spines lightly sunned as usual, two short splits
to foot of spine of vol. I and a little light wear to spine ends
generally, slight browning to endpapers and a little spotting
to uncut edges as usual, overall a very good copy.
FIRST EDITION of Shackleton’s account of the British
Antarctic Expedition of 1907–9 (Nimrod). Presentation
copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper:
“To Gerald Christy from the author E. H. Shackleton with
kindest wishes. Nov 1909”. Christy ran the premier lecture
agency in Britain, and would have been a natural source of
income for Shackleton. “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).
227.SHACKLETON, Sir
Ernest.
South The Story of Shackleton’s Last
Expedition 1914–1917.
London, William Heinemann, 1919 [36927] £3500
Catalogue 57: Travel Section 5: Australia and Antarctica
8vo. Original midnight-blue cloth, spine and upper cover
lettered and decorated silver, publisher’s device in blind to
lower cover. Colour frontispiece, folding map and 87 plates.
Endpapers foxed and a little browned, marginal browning as
usual, contemporary gift in pencil to the front free endpaper,
but overall very good, cloth slightly rubbed at the extremities.
FIRST EDITION, First Impression. Shackleton embarked in
1914 on the Endurance to make the first traverse of the
Antarctic continent; a journey of some 1800 miles from
sea to sea. But 1915 turned into an unusually icy year
in Antarctica; after drifting trapped in the ice for nine
months, the Endurance was crushed in the ice on October
27. “Shackleton now showed his supreme qualities of
leadership. With five companions he made a voyage of
800 miles in a 22-foot boat through some of the stormiest
seas in the world, crossed the unknown lofty interior of
South Georgia, and reached a Norwegian whaling station
on the north coast. After three attempts. Shackleton
succeeded (30 August 1916) in rescuing the rest of the
Endurance party and bringing them to South America”
(DNB). Amazingly, all members of the Endurance party
survived the ordeal.
112 113
Spence 1107; Conrad p. 224.