SOLO - The North Pole: Alone and Unsupported.

LONDON.MICHAEL JOSEPH,2004. UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn. FINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip (£17.99) to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,colour photographic dw/dj; with some minimal shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - some minimal light scoring/indents to rear panel,not excessively though.Majority of creasing to front+rear top edges,with both the head+foot of spine/ backstrip of dw/dj minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top+ fore-edges lightly aged but generally bright and clean; contents bright,tight and near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - unread? Bright,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original,plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped silver gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate colour Arctic Ocean exploration map illustrated endpapers.Book is slightly cocked.UK, 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn;xi-xivpp+1-369pp [paginated] includes illustrations list,a prologue,Pts 1+2 and an epilogue,32pp autobiographical+subject related b/w+colour photographs,in 4 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp82/3,pp146/7,pp210/11 and pp274/5 respectively,acknowledgements and an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title-pages,dedication and a prose extract (from Fridtjof Nansen,Furthest North) and a contents list/table. Pen Hadow dedicated fifteen years,three attempts and a rare degree of focus,sacrifice and perseverance to meet one of the toughest polar challenges.In Spring 2003,fulfilling a deathbed vow to his father,Pen Hadow became the only person ever to complete a solo trek,without resupply,to the North Pole from the more arduous North American side - even surviving a fall through thin ice into the freezing waters of the Arctic Ocean (then 2004).The nine days he later spent weather-bound at the Pole,with his supplies running out and concerns mounting for his life,attracted unprecedented global media interest in his epic achievement and eventual pick-up.In reaching the South Pole,this time with a sledging partner,only nine months later,he became the only Briton to have trekked,without resupply,to both Geographic Poles. As a young child he was exposed to an unusual conditioning regime by the former nanny to Scott of the Antarctic's son.Then as a fifteen-year-old schoolboy he ran the 'Long Ducker' - a marathon-length course no one else had completed for fifty years. But it wasn't until he made his first polar expedition,at the age of twenty-seven,that he knew he had found his destiny.This beautiful,desolate and dramatic environment cast a spell over him and he made the polar world his life.Pen's extraordinary story,told within the context of the rich history of Polar exploration,will move and inspire all those who have the seed of a dream within them. Since April,2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its pricees,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the heavier weight of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!