SOUTH: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917 by Shackleton Ernest - 1920

New York: Macmillan Company, 1920. First American Edition. With a color frontispiece, 87 illustrations from photos and drawings, and a folding map at the rear. Tall 8vo, original ribbed green cloth lettered in gilt on spine and cover. xxi, 380 including index. An unusually bright and fine copy, the green cloth unfaded and fresh, the text fine indeed. ONE OF THE GREATEST BOOKS IN THE SOUTH POLAR OEUVRE. THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST EPICS IN THE HISTORY OF ANTARCTIC TRAVEL AND ONE OF THE MOST HARROWING TALES EVER PENNED OF RESCUE AND HUMAN TRIUMPH. SOUTH is the story of Shackleton's failed attempt, after learning of Amundsen's attainment of the South Pole, to be the first to cross the last continent from sea to sea. The first editions of this book have truly become quite scarce and are rarely found in as nice condition as seen here.
“The story of our attempt is the subject for the following pages, and I think that though failure in the actual accomplishment must be recorded, there are chapters in this book of high adventure, strenuous days, lonely nights, unique experiences, and above all, records of unflinching determination, supreme loyalty, and generous self-sacrifice on the part of my men which, even in these days that have witnessed the sacrifices of nations and regardlessness of self on the part of individuals, still will be of interest to readers who now turn gladly from the red horror of war and the strain of the last five years to read, perhaps with more understanding minds, the tale of the White Warfare of the South. The struggles, the disappointments, and the endurance of this small party of Britishers, hidden away for nearly two years in the fastnesses of the Polar ice, striving to carry out the ordained task and ignorant of the crises through which the world was passing, make a story which is unique in the history of Antarctic exploration.” - Shackleton from the Preface.