BLOG OY 07/05/2025
The Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration which ran from theend of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War was characterised by great national scientific expeditions, generally quite poorly equipped, to explore the last unknown continent and in some cases to attempt to reach the South Pole. Notable expeditions included those launched by Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Scotland. The first truly British expedition, was the National Antarctic Expedition, better known by the name of its ship, the Discovery.
Underfunded and with initial disagreement about whether it would be a scientific expedition or led by the Royal Navy, it’s fair to say that it was not the best run undertaking. Scott’s impetuosity and irrational prejudices, such as preferring man-hauling to the use of dog sledges, together with the inexperience of most of the scientists ensured this. Nevertheless, in terms of achievement it was remarkable, setting a new furthest south record, the discovery of King Edward VII Land, the charting of the Transantarctic Mountains, the discovery of the Polar Plateau, and establishing the position of the Magnetic South Pole, amongst a host of discoveries.
It also produced several outstanding books documenting the expedition. The actual narrative is contained in Scott’s The Voyage of the ‘Discovery’, 1905. Although not the rarest Antarctic book, it is getting scarcer. We are fortunate to be able to offer a very desirable association copy, presented by Charles Royds, the First Lieutenant on the Discovery, and with a letter from the expedition’s Geologist, Ferrer, giving instructions to the members of the expedition on how to proceed with the geological investigations.
From a scientific perspective, the pick of the publications is the Natural History, a series of six large volumes published between 1907 and 1912. Largely presentation copies to institutions, they don’t appear on the market very often. The pick of the bunch is undoubtedly the volume on mammals and birds with plates by Edward Wilson. The bird plates are of great scientific and artistic merit, enhanced by this copy being one of only 25 copies for presentation with the plates on thick paper, definitely a high spot of Antarctic literature.
Other important scientific reports that we have from this expedition include three presentation copies to the leader of the Swedish expedition, Professor Otto Nordenskjolds, Physical Observations, 1908, notable for its series of eight beautiful lithographs of aurora effects;
Magnetic Observations, 1909, which includes a comparison with the magnetic field in the Arctic;
and Meteorology, 1908-1913, a rather technical work which gives a series of a thousand synoptic charts drawn from not only the Discovery expedition but also the German, Swedish and Scottish.
On a lighter note, the Third Officer, in charge of entertainments amongst other duties, was no less than Ernest Shackleton. To pass the long months of darkness, he started a newspaper, The South Polar Times to entertain the men. This was published in book form from 1907 to 1914 with the first two volumes concerning the Discovery Expedition, and the final volume Scott’s fateful Terra Nova expedition. The second volume was edited by Bernacchi and the third by Cherry Garrard. A very handsome limited edition, only 350 copies were produced.
The finest of all the Discovery publications has to be the Album of Photographs and Sketches with a portfolio of panoramic views, 2 vols. 1908. This superb work, consisting largely of photographs by Reginald Skelton, was published by the Royal Society and provides a large-scale record of Antarctic landscape and wildlife. Some of the illustrations had been published in the scientific reports but it was felt that they derived their own publication. Hard to find in acceptable condition, we are fortunate to have a very good, complete set.
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The Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration which ran from theend of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War was characterised by great national scientific expeditions, generally quite poorly equipped, to explore the last unknown continent and in some cases to attempt to reach the South Pole. Notable expeditions included those launched by Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Scotland. The first truly British expedition, was the National Antarctic Expedition, better known by the name of its ship, the Discovery.
Underfunded and with initial disagreement about whether it would be a scientific expedition or led by the Royal Navy, it’s fair to say that it was not the best run undertaking. Scott’s impetuosity and irrational prejudices, such as preferring man-hauling to the use of dog sledges, together with the inexperience of most of the scientists ensured this. Nevertheless, in terms of achievement it was remarkable, setting a new furthest south record, the discovery of King Edward VII Land, the charting of the Transantarctic Mountains, the discovery of the Polar Plateau, and establishing the position of the Magnetic South Pole, amongst a host of discoveries.
It also produced several outstanding books documenting the expedition. The actual narrative is contained in Scott’s The Voyage of the ‘Discovery’, 1905. Although not the rarest Antarctic book, it is getting scarcer. We are fortunate to be able to offer a very desirable association copy, presented by Charles Royds, the First Lieutenant on the Discovery, and with a letter from the expedition’s Geologist, Ferrer, giving instructions to the members of the expedition on how to proceed with the geological investigations.
From a scientific perspective, the pick of the publications is the Natural History, a series of six large volumes published between 1907 and 1912. Largely presentation copies to institutions, they don’t appear on the market very often. The pick of the bunch is undoubtedly the volume on mammals and birds with plates by Edward Wilson. The bird plates are of great scientific and artistic merit, enhanced by this copy being one of only 25 copies for presentation with the plates on thick paper, definitely a high spot of Antarctic literature.
Other important scientific reports that we have from this expedition include three presentation copies to the leader of the Swedish expedition, Professor Otto Nordenskjolds, Physical Observations, 1908, notable for its series of eight beautiful lithographs of aurora effects;
Magnetic Observations, 1909, which includes a comparison with the magnetic field in the Arctic;
and Meteorology, 1908-1913, a rather technical work which gives a series of a thousand synoptic charts drawn from not only the Discovery expedition but also the German, Swedish and Scottish.
On a lighter note, the Third Officer, in charge of entertainments amongst other duties, was no less than Ernest Shackleton. To pass the long months of darkness, he started a newspaper, The South Polar Times to entertain the men. This was published in book form from 1907 to 1914 with the first two volumes concerning the Discovery Expedition, and the final volume Scott’s fateful Terra Nova expedition. The second volume was edited by Bernacchi and the third by Cherry Garrard. A very handsome limited edition, only 350 copies were produced.
The finest of all the Discovery publications has to be the Album of Photographs and Sketches with a portfolio of panoramic views, 2 vols. 1908. This superb work, consisting largely of photographs by Reginald Skelton, was published by the Royal Society and provides a large-scale record of Antarctic landscape and wildlife. Some of the illustrations had been published in the scientific reports but it was felt that they derived their own publication. Hard to find in acceptable condition, we are fortunate to have a very good, complete set.
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► View All Exploration & Travel Books
► View All Antarctica Books
► View New Arrivals
► Subscribe to our Newsletter
