Item #118500 Auroral Observations at the Cape Royds Station, Antarctica. [Contained in] Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, Volume 40, 1916. British Antarctic Expedition, Sir Douglas MAWSON.

Auroral Observations at the Cape Royds Station, Antarctica. [Contained in] Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, Volume 40, 1916

Adelaide, Royal Society of South Australia, 1916.

Octavo, pages 151-212 with 2 diagrams plus a small folding map of the locality and a large folding plate containing small circular graphs showing time and place distributions 'for the seventeen principal directions in the heavens'.

Flush-cut quarter cloth and card covers, with the full title page details on the front cover (and basic title and volume details on the spine); slight bump to the bottom corner of the front joint; an excellent copy.

Most of the 62-page article comprises the 'Journal of Aurorae observed at Cape Royds, Ross Island ... during 1908' (specifically, from 26 March to 2 October). The first paragraph of the author's preface is worth quoting in full: 'The following notes were prepared for publication in the year 1911. The printing, however, was delayed, as Sir Ernest Shackleton expected to published the Scientific Reports of the Expedition as a continuous series. Since then, want of the necessary funds has driven him to abandon the idea of a complete series, and this manuscript is at last released for publication'. The official 'Reports of the Scientific Investigations' of the expedition were published in London by William Heinemann between 1910 and 1916 (Rosove 306, '13 part [4 vols.]'). Rosove records that 'A few reports appeared in the scientific journals', and lists this report in a footnote on page 388. Atypically for this fine bibliography, there are errors in both the title of the article and the journal in which it appeared. The correct details are above; Rosove has 'The Auroral Log of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909', and 'Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia'. This issue also contains another short article by Mawson on minerals (5 pages), Walter Howchin on the geology of Mount Remarkable (39 pages), A. Jefferis Turner on new Australian lepidoptera (39 pages), phasma and fish-fauna of Lord Howe Island (two separate articles), and the usual exotic mixture as before on assorted animals, vegetables, and minerals.

Item #118500

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