Title: South; the story of Shackleton's last Expedition 1914-1917
Publisher: The Macmillan Company, New York
Publication Date: 1920
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Signed: Inscribed by Author
"New and cheaper edition", November 1920. xvi, (1, blank, 3, blank), 380 printed pages. Folding map near back. Frontispiece and 23 double-sided black& white plates. Several text illustrations and sketch maps. Verso of frontispiece with flowing ink dedication and dated signature ("To Aksel Wichfeld with kindest regards from Ernest Shackleton, April 1921"). The fluency of Shackleton's writing should be noted only a few years after he suffered frostbite in his fingers having given his own mittens to photographer Frank Hurley, who had lost his during their April 1915 open boat journey. Some corners very slightly creased. Front inner hinge slightly cracked. Text block slightly spotted. 15 x 22.5 cm. Original green cloth, spine printed in gilt with title, publisher and two horizontal borders (very slight wear to head and tail of spine as well as corners & a few very tiny marks from shelf handling). One of the greatest epics in the field of Antarctic Travel and Exploration. A.W. Greely in his four page review of the book in 1921 noted not only was this the most comprehensive scientific work every attempted on a polar expedition but "the illustrations are of unusual value, conveying as they do a clearer and more accurate view of polar scenes and lands, and especially as to Caird Coast and Elephant Island." Provenance: Acquired directly from the adult grandaughter of a deceased Scottish based polar and Hebrides book collector. The original owner, Aksel Wichfeld went to the USA from his native Denmark in 1910 as a guest of his uncle, the Danish Minister, Constantin Brun (1860-1945) in Washington D.C. He went into the banking and taxi cab industries in New York City. In 1915 he married the meat-packing heiress, Mabelle Swift Moore Wichfeld (1878-1933). In 1916 Aksel was appointed as a Danish Attache of the legation. The Wichfelds maintained residences in New York, Washington D.C. and Paris as well as Swiftmoor at Pride's Crosssing, Mass. - the Washington residence, in particular, was the scene of many fashionable gatherings of diplomatic and social circles. It is not impossible that Shackleton had met Aksel Wichfeld in April 1921 in connection with raising funds for his final fateful expedition (Shackleton Rowett Expedition). Shackleton returned to the lecture circuit and published his own account of the Endurance expedition, South, in December 1919. In 1920, tired of the lecture circuit, Shackleton began to consider the possibility of a last expedition. He thought seriously of going to the Beaufort Sea area of the Arctic, a largely unexplored region, and raised some interest in this idea from the Canadian government. With funds supplied by former schoolfriend John Quiller Rowett, he acquired a 125-ton Norwegian sealer, named Foca I, which he renamed Quest. The plan changed; the destination became the Antarctic, and the project was defined by Shackleton as an "oceanographic and sub-antarctic expedition". The goals of the venture were imprecise, but a circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent and investigation of some "lost" sub-Antarctic islands, such as Tuanaki, were mentioned as objectives. Rowett agreed to finance the entire expedition, which became known as the Shackleton Rowett Expedition. On 16 September 1921, Shackleton recorded a farewell address on a sound-on-film system created by Harry Grindell Matthews, who claimed it was the first "talking picture" ever made. The expedition left England on 24 September 1921. 5 January 1922, Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack. 5 March 1922, Shackleton was buried in the Grytviken cemetery, South Georgia, after a short service in the Lutheran church. Amongst a multitude of awards and decorations, Shackleton received the Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark in 1909. An important signed book with a solid provenance, marking the end of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. #5117