The Voyage of the ‘Why Not?' in the Antarctic: The Journal of the Second French South Polar Expedition, 1908-1910

London: Hodder & Stroughton, Printed by Butler and Tanner. ND [ca. 1911], First edition of the first English translation. sm4to – 25.6 cm., (viii), 315pp.,Indexed, 42 plates including fold-out photographic frontpiece with tissue guard, 48 black-and-white photographs – many full-page, 3 sketches and one full-page map. Original blue green cloth with blind stamped border and bright guilt title on cover and spine. Spine with image of gentoo penguin in white and cover with guilt high-relief image of the ship "Why Not?" in the ice. Exterior in very good+ condition; Interior with tight hinges and bright clean pages – all are quite clear and crisp – hinges are strong and show no signs of splitting. Prior owner's elegantly penned inscription on front free endleaf. A Near Fine copy of a very Scarce publication. Spence 262; Renard 296; Conrad p. 152, Taurus 66; Rosove 67.A.1.

The first-person narrative and results of the Second French Antarctic Expedition under the command of Jean Charcot. Impressively, a total of 1250 miles of coastline and newly discovered territory were surveyed. Maps created from Charcot's expedition were so precise that they were still being used twenty-five years later by sealers and whalers. Enough scientific data was collected to fill 28 volumes, illustrated with some of the 3000 photographs taken during the expedition. The Polar historian, Edwin Swift Balch, wrote that Charcot's explorations "occupy a place in the front rank of the most important Antarctic expeditions. No one has surpassed him and few have equaled him as a leader and as a scientific observer". Robert Falcon Scott referred to Charcot as "the gentleman of the Pole". Charcot continued exploring and recording data in the polar waters until his death in 1936 in a storm-induced shipwreck on the coast of Iceland.